Mineta Calls For Reform Of Aviation Trust Fund 'To Keep Pace With Growing Air Traffic'

Despite mounting evidence that a User Fee attack mounted a few weeks ago, collectively, by DoT and FAA seems mis-guided and unneeded, SecTrans Mineta is not backing down from trying to shake down the aviation money tree for all it's worth.

According to a DoT release, "If the nation hopes to keep up with growing demand on our aviation system, we’ll need to start thinking about a better way to pay for new airport towers, runways and safety equipment," U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said Monday during a visit to General Electric’s Durham Aircraft Engine Facility in North Carolina.

Mineta launched a week-long bus tour across the southeast with a call for reform of the Aviation Trust Fund, the financing mechanism used to pay for new or improved airport infrastructure projects.

He said the time has come to trade in what he called the “1970’s model” financing plan for one that can “keep pace with the growing numbers of passengers that our airports and airlines are seeing every day.”

Mineta said the fund doesn’t raise enough money to pay for needed improvements because revenues are based on a percentage of the fare each traveler pays for a plane ticket.

“These lower fares are great news for travelers but they have unfortunate implications for aviation infrastructure,” Mineta said.

He said ticket prices at the end of 2004 were down 9 percent from their peak in 2000. The fund raised just over $9 billion in 2004, $4 billion short of the $13 billion need to make necessary improvement to the system last year.

The trust fund and it’s 7.5 percent ticket tax come up for renewal in 2007, but Mineta cautioned against putting off a solution to the problem, saying that “would be like waiting until we’re thirsty before we dig a well.”

Mineta linked his visit to the GE plant to the call for action on the trust fund predicting that “unless the capacity of our aviation system keeps pace with demand, manufacturing plants like GE/Durham will find orders coming in as slowly as the airplanes if there is gridlock at our airports.”

Mineta’s visit to Durham kicked off a five-state National Transportation Week tour to highlight the Bush Administration’s efforts to improve the safety and efficiency of our nation’s transportation network. He also will visit South Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Louisiana this week.

FMI: www.dot.gov