State Considering Overtime Charges For After-Hours Arrivals

Airlines landing at rural Alaska airports may face additional fees by 2018, as the state considers charging carriers for the overtime needed to staff those airports after hours.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that the Alaska DOT is working with the airlines on the proposed changes. Deputy DOT Commissioner John Binder said that the fees may be necessary because of budget cuts to the agency. He said the DOT's overtime budget has been "essentially zeroed out" by the state legislature.

The state DOT has been cut by about 22 percent over the past two years, and overtime at state-owned rural airports was affected by the cuts.

Now, Binder said, the DOT is collaborating with the airlines to adjust schedules and airport operating hours so that overtime can be avoided. But when overtime is required, the department will require the carrier to bear at least some of that cost. Binder said that the department is working on the fee structure. Part of it will depend on the size of the airplanes landing, as larger aircraft require better-maintained runways than do smaller planes.

Binder said that the new regulations are still being formulated, and will be put out for public comment in the first half of 2017. Any new regulations would most likely go into effect in 2018, he said.

FMI: www.dot.state.ak.us