AAAE Lauds Senate Appropriations Committee Approval of Bipartisan Legislation by Senators Collins an

American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) President and CEO Todd Hauptli issued the following statement regarding Senate committee passage of bipartisan legislation authored by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jack Reed (D-RI) and supported by Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT) that would fuel significant airport infrastructure investment through a long overdue adjustment to the local Passenger Facility Charge program and an increase in the successful user-funded Airport Improvement Program.

"Today the Senate Appropriations Committee, on a broad bipartisan basis, broke the infrastructure investment log-jam that has bedeviled the Congress for far too long. The legislation crafted by Senators Collins (R-ME) and Reed (D-RI), and supported by Chairman Cochran (R-MS), Ranking Member Leahy (D-VT) and an overwhelming majority of both Republicans and Democrats, will go a long way toward closing down the infrastructure investment gap that airports have struggled with for well over a decade. It is often said that the Appropriations Committee is where the rubber meets the road and today the rubber met the runway. Airports are excited that help is on the way."

The bill - the Fiscal Year 2018 Department of Transportation spending measure - was approved today by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The measure includes an increase in the federal cap on local Passenger Facility Charges to $8.50 for originating passengers only and would increase AIP funding by $250 million to $3.6 billion. The PFC was last adjusted by Congress in 2000. AIP funding has been flat at $3.35 billion since Fiscal Year 2012. By comparison, U.S. airlines have collected more than $30 billion in baggage fees since 2008, including a record $4.2 billion in bag fees last year. None of those funds collected went into the aviation trust fund for the benefit of the traveling public.

Earlier this year, Hauptli testified before the Collins/Reed subcommittee during a hearing on infrastructure investment and advocated for an increase in the PFC and AIP programs. His oral testimony can be viewed here and the written testimony can be viewed here.