Airports rap airlines on bag fees

The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) is criticizing airlines for collecting $3.5 billion in baggage fees last year while they opposed calls to increase the fees that are paid by passengers for airport improvements. 

The figure, which was announced on Monday by the Department of Transportation, comes as airports and airlines have been locked in a battle over the amount of money that passengers can be charged to help pay for facility improvements. 

Airports have been pushing Congress to raise the cap on the fee that is added to every plane ticket, which is known as the Passenger Facility Charge, from $4.50 to $8.50. 

{mosads}Airlines have countered that passengers are charged enough fees already, but AAAE President Todd Hauptli said the 2014 bag fee figures showed the hypocrisy of their argument.  

“For the second year in a row, the airlines have collected more in bag fee revenue than the federal government has spent on airport infrastructure across the entire nation,” Hauptli said in a statement. “It’s time for Congress to turn the page on this debate and act in the long-term best interest of local communities and the nation by modernizing the Passenger Facility Charge program.” 

The Transportation Department figures showed airlines collected 2.1 percent of their total operating revenue in 2014 from baggage fees. The agency’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) said airlines also collected $3.0 billion in reservation change fees last year. 

Airlines have said airports are the ones who have collected enough fees from passengers. 

The group that lobbies for the airline industry in Washington, Airlines for America (A4A), said Monday evening that airports have collected billions from the existing Passenger Facility Charge. 

“There is no crisis in airport funding and airports cannot identify a single project that has failed to move forward due to lack of funding,” A4A spokesman Vaughn Jennings said in a statement provided to The Hill.

“Comparing revenue from optional ancillary services to mandatory tax hikes that passengers are forced to pay every they fly is misleading at best, as it completely ignores that fact that airports across our country are in a very strong financial position, already receiving billions of dollars from passengers and the government alike,” Jennings continued. “In 2013, U.S. airports collected a record $24.5 billion in revenue – a 52 percent increase on a per passenger basis from 2000 – including $10 billion in airline rents and fees, $2.8 billion from existing PFCs, $8.2 billion in non-airline revenues and $3.4 billion from the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program.” 

The fight between airlines and airports over passenger fees is expected to simmer until lawmakers approve a new funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) later this year. 

The FAA’s current funding bill is scheduled to expire in September, and airports are hoping to convince lawmakers to include an increase in the PFC cap in a potential extension of the agency’s spending bill. 

The Passenger Facility Charge was first established by Congress in 1990. The FAA says “airports use these fees to fund FAA-approved projects that enhance safety, security, or capacity; reduce noise; or increase air carrier competition.”

-This story was updated with new information at 10:30 p.m.