Atlanta Urinal Liberal Propaganda Article on Corporate Air Travel

[DieselDragRacer]

Small airports take in billions as airlines sag
Private pilots, jets are 'making out like bandits,' expert says, as passengers foot the bill.

By Bob Porterfield
Associated Press
Published on: 04/16/07 San Francisco —- The federal government has taken billions of dollars from the taxes and fees paid by airline passengers every time they fly and awarded it to small airports used mainly by private pilots and globe-trotting corporate executives.
Some of these "general aviation" facilities have used the federal dollars —- more than $7 billion over the past decade —- for enhancements such as longer runways and passenger terminals aimed at luring traffic, an Associated Press review has found. And the money comes with little oversight, and at the expense of an increasingly beleaguered air transportation system.
"They're making out like bandits," said Bob Poole, director of transportation studies at Southern California's Reason Foundation. "It's not only that airline passengers are paying more than their fair share, but they're being overtaxed to give private jets a free ride."
Passengers pay as many as six separate taxes and fees on a single airline ticket, adding up to more than $104 billion since 1997. Meanwhile, travelers deal with more hassles than ever. In 2006, more passengers were bumped, their flights delayed or their bags lost than in 2005, according to the annual Airline Quality Rating report released earlier this month.
Congress will decide later this year whether to curtail the public subsidy for small airports, while pilots' associations, airport managers and other interested groups are fighting to keep it.
Ed Bolen, president of the National Business Aviation Association, which represents 8,000 operators of private jets and other aircraft, said all Americans benefit from the proliferation of small airports, because they aid emergency preparedness, medical evacuations and mail delivery. Without help from the federal government in the form of passenger taxes, many would be unable to survive, he said.
Mark Cooper of the Washington-based Consumer Federation of America said the key question is whether passengers are paying for something they're not getting. "It costs me more to park my car at National Airport than it costs to park a corporate jet," he said.
"We're not saying money shouldn't be going to those [small] airports," said John Heimlich, vice president and chief economist at the Air Transport Association, a trade group representing the airlines. "We're saying it shouldn't be our money."
Noncommercial aviation contributes to America's air transit infrastructure mostly in the form of a fuel tax that covers just a fraction of the services it uses. A study released in February by the FAA said it cost $2.4 billion just to provide air traffic control for private and corporate planes in 2005. Yet the industry contributed just $516 million in fuel taxes that year.
An additional $500 million annually pays for weather forecasts and other preflight data for private pilots. The FAA wants to scrap many existing passenger taxes and replace them with higher fuel taxes and user fees that would put more of the burden on noncommercial aviation.
WHAT YOU PAY
Taxes and fees currently attached to each ticket purchase:
Ticket taxes: A 7.5 percent federal levy is attached to every plane ticket. A separate rural airport tax of 7.5 percent is assessed on flights that begin or end at rural airports, but those passengers then are exempt from the other ticket tax and the segment tax. Passengers traveling between the continental United States and Alaska or Hawaii pay an additional $7.50 in taxes.
Segment tax: The passenger flight segment tax, currently $3.40, is charged each time a passenger takes off and lands.
International arrival and departure tax: The current tax is $15.10 per passenger on all flights departing for or arriving from foreign destinations. The fee is tied to the Consumer Price Index and has risen 12.7 percent over the past five years.
Security fees: Created by Congress after the 2001 terrorist attacks, these fees cost customers $2.50 per boarding, with a $5 maximum per one-way trip, even with multiple segments.
Passenger facility charge: This tax is collected by airlines and paid directly to the airport where it's levied. The FAA tells each airport how much it can charge —- from $3 to $4.50 for each leg of a trip, to a maximum of $18 on a single ticket sale.
—- Associated Press
GEORGIA FIELDS
Eighteen smaller Georgia airports received a total of more than $16 million over the past two years from federal airline passenger taxes.
THEIR PATRONS
Some popular smaller Georgia fields and their top clients:
Peachtree City-Falcon Field —- NASCAR race teams, because it's only about 15 miles from Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Daniel Field in Augusta —- Golf enthusiasts who flock to Augusta National Golf Club each spring for the Masters tournament.
Cherokee County Airport in Canton —- Businessmen who fly in for meetings in metro Atlanta.
DeKalb County Airport —- Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention heading to disease outbreaks around the world, corporate executives from Bank of America and Rollins, the parent of pest control company Orkin.
WHERE THE MONEY GOES
Smaller airports say they need the funds to complete major projects such as runway improvements that they otherwise couldn't afford.
WHAT THEY GENERATE
Officials from Georgia's smaller airports say airplanes at their fields contribute millions of dollars to the federal airport improvement fund via a steep 21-cent-a-gallon fuel tax. They also say their facilities generate money for the public through jobs related to the general aviation industry and local and state taxes.
—- Associated Press

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2007/04/16/natairports0416a.html

I guess they forgot these same corporate flight departments operate under companies that also advertise in their liberal rag.