... and outside the Oval Office the populace awaits, hat in hand. There is irony in the fact that the major theme of President Obama’s inaugural address was one of responsibility, at a time when industries across the nation have their eyes on federal bailout monies.
And there’s the pending ‘stimulus package’ for infrastructure investment, which focuses heavily on roads and bridges, but which will include aviation as well. Airport groups are making their case for more Airport Improvement Program dollars, and AIP has proven through the years to be a federal reinvestment program that is accountable and valuable, particularly for mid-size and smaller commercial airports. Perhaps more significantly, aviation groups seem unified in the call for investing in the NextGen modernization of the nation’s air traffic control system. If I were the one doling out the dollars, that would be the first place I’d target.
The new President should also appoint an FAA Administrator who can inject a new enthusiasm into the agency, while also making peace with the air traffic controllers union (NATCA). If modernizing ATC is a priority, it seems only reasonable that the two groups that will make it happen, FAA and NATCA, ought to be in alignment on the issue – not at war.
The feds also need to take a serious look at raising the passenger facility charges (PFCs) cap from the current $4.50. According to Airports Council International-North America, since its inception in 1990 the PFC program has accounted for some $50 billion in capital investments at U.S. airports. It has proven a great counterbalance to the AIP program, which is targeted primarily at airfield improvements. The problem with the $4.50 cap is that it is not indexed for inflation by law, which means that $4.50 is actually $2.86 in today’s dollars, according to ACI-NA. Airport groups want the PFC cap raised to at least $7, a reasonable proposal.
Meanwhile, the nation waits to see how much money the feds are going to print and where they’re going to invest it. One hopes that the new President and all the sages in Washington, D.C. have their history books open to the 1970s, a period of bad monetary policy that led to a stagnated economy, high interest rates, and runaway inflation.
Thanks for reading. jfi