DeCosta Says Federal Passenger Facilities Cap Should Be Raised To $7.50

Passengers at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport already pay the maximum $4.50 per ticket in passenger facility charges, but airport manager Ben DeCosta is calling on congress to raise that ceiling to $7.50, with an opportunity for further increases.

Atlanta has a new international terminal under construction, and other projects on the drawing board. Passenger facility fees are a primary funding source for projects like the new terminal. “It would enable us to make sure that we have a very strong and stable source of funding and that will ensure that our credit ratings are up,” DeCosta said at an event celebrating the 15th anniversary of Concourse E, the existing international terminal.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the airport board has delayed issuing some $800 million in bonds due to difficult economic conditions.

Airlines are opposed to an increase in the passenger facility charge. Air Transport Association spokesman David Castelveter told the paper “Not only is it not needed; it’s an inopportune time to further tax passengers when they can ill afford to fly as it is.”

FMI: www.atlanta-airport.com