According to the Federal Aviation Administration, by 2015, one billion passengers will board planes domestically each year; whether our nation’s airports can handle this projected demand will depend on how money is invested in aviation infrastructure today.

Airports need to respond to these looming capacity strains by building facilities that will ensure safe, secure, comfortable and environmentally compliant facilities for air travelers.

An assessment of airport capital needs was conducted by Airports Council International - North America based on an exhaustive survey of U.S. airports. The results indicate that total airport capital development costs for all airports are approximately $17.5 billion per year from 2007 through 2011, in current-year dollars. This represents a 19.5 percent increase in annual capital needs from a similar survey conducted in 2005 for the period 2005-2009.

The FAA’s Passenger Facility Charge Program was first authorized in 1990. Since then, passenger facility charges (PFCs) have become a cornerstone of airport capital programs. Since the introduction of PFCs, airports have funded over $50 billion in capital projects. Projects eligible for PFC funding include new runways, taxiways, aprons and certain public and nonexclusive areas of terminals. Yet, the PFC ceiling has not been adjusted for inflation since 2000, resulting in a drastic loss in value.

FAA recently recommended that the PFC ceiling be adjusted to $6, from the current $4.50. Airports within and outside of my congressional district have expressed concern that the current figure does not adequately account for the loss of value due to construction-cost inflation. In fact, data shows that due to spikes in construction cost inflation, today’s $4.50 PFC is only worth $2.86.

In order to recapture this lost value, it is my view the PFC ceiling should be adjusted and indexed for inflation. Moreover, I also am in favor of the expansion of PFC eligibility for projects such as intermodal connection facilities. The additional PFC funding and project expansions will allow airports to begin new construction projects to accommodate additional airline passengers and service, promote competition, and create good-paying construction jobs that will help stimulate local economies.

The statute could be amended to allow airports to charge the PFC adjustment in 25-cent increments so that they have flexibility to better match the PFC level to local needs.

It is important to note that an adjustment in the PFC ceiling does not mean that all airports will implement a PFC at the highest authorized ceiling. Of large and medium hub airports, 25 percent have not implemented a $4.50 PFC, while 35 percent of small-hub airports remain below the ceiling. Airports have acted responsibility, requesting FAA approval for PFC funding that matches the costs of the projects planned to benefit airline passengers.

Without the PFC, financing these projects would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, to undertake, which means your constituents wouldn’t be able to benefit accordingly. Thus, increasing the PFC is important not only from a national perspective, but from a state and local perspective as well.

Furthermore, PFCs also play a vital role in providing significant funding for small and general aviation (GA) airports. This is because when large airports utilize PFCs to fund improvement projects, they turn back Airport Improvement Program (AIP) passenger-entitlement funds, which are dedicated in part to small and GA airports. In fact, the PFC turnback currently provides GA airports with one-third of their federal airport funding dollars.

The challenges before us are real, and we’re going to have to take a hard look at flexible policies during the FAA reauthorization debate that will enable our nation’s airports to prevent a looming gridlock of our nation’s aviation infrastructure. We must act now.

Johnson is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Aviation Subcommittee and Chairman of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee

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