Airports Seek More Money For Expansion Growth Pushing Facilities To Their Limits

A decade from now, the nation’s airports will handle nearly a billion passengers a year, a situation that could make every day look like the weekend before Thanksgiving unless they get money for expansion.

James A. Brough, chairman of Airports Council International-North America and executive director of the Birmingham Airport Authority, called for lifting the current $3 limit on the airport passenger facility charge.

Brough and others also urged that federal airport improvement funding be boosted from $1.7 billion to at least $2 billion annually.

“The value of airports is great, so are the needs of airports,” he said.

The comments came at a briefing Friday marking the 50th anniversary of the Airports Council, which represents some 400 airports in the United States and Canada.

Robert F. Holscher, director of aviation for the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, said a Federal Aviation Administration study predicted that passenger trips will increase from 619.8 million in 1996 to nearly 995 million in 2008.

But while that increase is already under way, he said, no new airports are being built. That means, Brough said, airports will have to spend money improving their ground transportation, parking, terminals, runways, security and other facilities.

Council president David Z. Plavin estimated that spending needs could total $60 billion over the next decade across the country.

The $3 limit on the passenger facility charge should be at least doubled, he said, along with increases in federal spending on airport improvements.

The federal Airport Improvement Program tends to be more of a benefit to smaller airports, while the passenger facility charge is more helpful to large operators, but increases are needed in both.

Holscher backed the plea for increased funding with statistics showing the benefit airports provide to their communities.

Overall, he said, airports generate nearly $380 billion in economic activity. There are 1.6 million people employed at airports and 4.2 million others in airport-generated jobs in local communities, he said.