Air travelers could soon face yet another dreaded fee increase.
According to The Hill, the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a fiscal 2018 spending bill that would raise the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) from $4.50 per flight segment to $8.50.
Airports charge the PFC to help fund federally approved infrastructure upgrades, including revamped terminals and security checkpoints. Airports can charge a maximum of two PFCs on a one-way trip and four on a roundtrip, capping the fees at $18. The proposed increase would raise the maximum charge for a roundtrip flight to $34.
Unsurprisingly, the proposal has polarized various groups.
"There is some opposition to it among the airlines. But there's a large backlog in infrastructure projects, and the fee has not been increased for 17 years," said Maine Senator and Appropriations transportation subcommittee chairwoman Susan Collins.
The proposal could put President Donald Trump in a tough spot. Although Trump campaigned on the promise of upgrading America's infrastructure and revitalizing its "third-world" airports, he's expressed concern that increasing the maximum cap on the PFC could make airline tickets too expensive.
Nonetheless, raising the fee would surely benefit Trump's ambitious $1 trillion infrastructure package.
"It's a big deal. It's a momentum builder for us," Airports Council International-North America President and CEO Kevin Burke told The Hill. "We can say, 'Look, the Senate unanimously put this in, there's got to be something right about this.'"
Airlines for America (A4A), which represents most of the country's major carriers, opposes the proposal. While supporters call the PFC a user fee, the trade group labels it a tax increase.
"Airline passengers already pay over $20 billion a year in taxes for the tickets they purchase. Adding another $3.2 billion tax hike on American travelers simply cannot be justified," A4A President and CEO Nicholas Calio said in a statement.
"The truth of the matter is that airports are flush with cash. It is disingenuous at best for Congress to repeatedly saddle traveling families and businesses with tax-hike after tax-hike while airports are sitting on billions in unused funds."
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The proposal has made significant progress in terms of winning over some key Senate members. However, it still faces hurdles in Congress as well as pushback from some powerful conservative groups.
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