FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2014

 

WASHINGTON–Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) today announced its participation in Infrastructure Week 2014, a week dedicated to exploring the need to invest in U.S. infrastructure to drive economic competitiveness.

“U.S. airports are a fundamental component of our nation’s transportation infrastructure, welcoming more than 700 million passengers annually and processing roughly 27 million metric tons of cargo,” said ACI-NA President and CEO Kevin M. Burke.  “Collectively, airports make a tremendous contribution to U.S. GDP—more than $1.2 trillion—and employ more than 1.3 million people.  But in order to ensure that our airports and commercial aviation sector continue to lead the world, we need to get serious about investing in our future.”

“Infrastructure Week 2014 provides U.S. airports a valuable opportunity to educate Congress and the American public about our current priorities to successfully meet capacity demands with safe, efficient, and modern facilities that passengers and cargo shippers expect in an increasingly competitive global market,” said Burke.

ACI-NA’s most recent Capital Needs Survey identified $71.3 billion in infrastructure improvements needed by 2017 to meet strong growth projections in both passenger and cargo activity and the need to update aging infrastructure.  U.S. airports expect the number of domestic passengers alone to surpass one billion enplanements within the next 15 years, and their greatest challenge currently is obtaining access to capital that will allow them to successfully tackle these infrastructure needs.

Airports need access to capital, and the primary source of this funding—particularly for our large hub airports—is the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC).The PFC is the nominal user fee included in the purchase of an airline ticket, virtually all of which is returned to the airport for investment in construction and other vital infrastructure projects.  The PFC’s maximum of $4.50 per segment, however, has not been raised since 2000, which has eroded this mechanism’s purchasing power has eroded by roughly half.

ACI-NA is an affiliate member of Infrastructure Week 2014.  More information is available at http://www.infrastructureweek2014.com/.