Senate Panel Clears AIP Hike

The Senate commerce committee has approved a two-year Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, with a boost in Airport Improvement Program (AIP) construction aid but no broad hike in passenger facility charges (PFCs).

The $34.5-billion bill, cleared by the panel on July 21, includes $8.1 billion for AIP. If the full Senate passes the bill, it would go to conference with a three year, $53.5-billion bill the House passed in May. Like the Senate panel’s bill, the House’s has $4 billion for AIP in 2010 and $4.1 billion in 2011. AIP’s 2009 appropriation is $3.5 billion. The House bill also raises the PFC limit to $7 from $4.50. The Senate panel’s bill removes the PFC cap but only at six airports.

FAA has operated under extensions since September 2007. The latest stopgap lapses Sept. 30.

Pam Hunter McFarland was a Senior Editor of ENR and her expertise was: Sourcebooks, Environment, Labor

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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