There’s a hidden tax on your airline tickets, and airports want to raise it even higher.

Learn More About the PFC

News

Airports are flush with cash and are recording sky-high revenues. See where this money is being used to improve the passenger experience without increasing the PFC.

Tell Congress:
This Tax Hike Won't Fly

What People Are Saying

Quote Icon

The PFC proposal is simply an attempt by cash-rich airport operators to offload costs onto consumers. Air travelers already pay their fair share. They don't need to pay another tax.

Jerome Solomon

CEO of Empower Texans

Quote Icon

Are airports “desperately” in need of additional money? Not even close. In reality, with air traffic up and federal funding growing rapidly, U.S. airports are thriving. In 2017, airport revenues broke records, reaching nearly $30 billion. Passenger growth has sent airport revenues soaring, a key reason why increasing the PFC is simply not necessary. The $3.5 billion airports collected last year was more than double the amount collected in 2001. Today, PFC collections are more than $1 billion higher than if they had just kept pace with inflation.

Steve Pociask

American Consumer Institute President

Quote Icon

Southwest Florida International Airport just announced a $170 million expansion to accommodate its rapidly rising passenger volume. Tampa International Airport just tore down a parking garage as part of its $2.6 billion, three-part renovation plan. In New York, LaGuardia just opened a huge, new 18-gate concourse. Austin Bergstrom International unveiled an in-terminal live music performance space. And Nashville's airport is pouring concrete for a massive new parking structure. All told, the nation's largest airports have spent $165 billion on modernizing their infrastructure in recent years. That's hardly the behavior you'd expect of a cash-strapped industry in distress.

Armando J. Ibarra

Former Member of Miami-Dade Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee

Quote Icon

Fortunately, our own Rep. Paul Mitchell is fighting back. At a recent House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing, he exposed the proposed hike as an unnecessary cash grab. Under his polite but persistent questioning, airport officials conceded that their existing sources of funding were adequate. As Mitchell knows, any such tax hikes could make flying through Detroit Metro Airport prohibitively expensive for working-class families. Let's hope his colleagues agree.

Joseph A. Sylvester

Bay County (Mich.) Taxpayers Association Chairman

Quote Icon

[R]evenues at domestic airports already total nearly $30 billion annually. And here in Mississippi, Gulfport-Biloxi International is thriving. This coming summer, it will add new direct flights to Austin, Texas, and Ft. Myers, Florida. Last fall, it opened a new, $800,000 hangar for private planes. Simply put, airports aren’t facing a cash crunch. In fact, local governments, which own and control most of America’s airports, diverted almost $5.4 billion away from airports in the last decade.

Jameson Taylor

Mississippi Center for Public Policy

Quote Icon

In reality, with air traffic up and reserve funds growing, U.S. airports are thriving, and asking price-conscious air travelers to pay a higher PFC is unnecessary.

Liam Sigaud

American Consumer Institute

Quote Icon

Infrastructure and, in particular, airport infrastructure is vital to the business travel industry. However, the need for increased fees to pay for the infrastructure has been hotly contested. With business travelers taking to the skies on over 144 million trips a year, an increase in the PFC will have a drastic impact. If business travel decreases, the overall economy will suffer. GBTA research shows that for every 1 percent loss in business travel spending, the U.S. economy loses 74,000 jobs, $5.5 billion in GDP, $3.3 billion in wages and $1.3 billion in taxes. That’s too big of a risk to take.

Shane Downey

The Global Business Travel Association

Quote Icon

Rather than increasing the PFC, the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act required a study of airport diversion of PFC revenues — a sign of at least some concern on Congress’s part that proceeds from the charge may be suffering from inefficient or ineffective utilization. It would be premature to expand the PFC in such an environment, without considering other systemic reforms.

Pete Sepp

NTU

Quote Icon

I have never met a traveler who thought they should pay more taxes for using an airport — and the truth is, they are right. American travelers have already used their hard-earned money to fund billions of dollars in airport renovations.

Charlie Leocha

Travelers United

Quote Icon

With so much cash on hand and record levels of airport revenue, there is simply no case to be made that our publicly controlled airports are desperate for infrastructure funds. Taxes already make up over 20 percent of the cost of an average domestic flight, our lawmakers shouldn’t be adding to this burden by hiking the PFC.

Grover Norquist

Americans for Tax Reform

Quote Icon

It is always easier to tax those who cannot protest rather than look constituents in the eye and tell them you are taking their hard-earned money.

Charlie Leocha

Travelers United


New Taxes on Air Travel Just Won't Fly

Airport Modernization Is Thriving With Billions Invested At Airports Across The Country

Airline Investment in Airport Improvement Projects

U.S. airlines invested

$20 billion

in 2017 to enhance the travel experience, that’s more than $24 per passenger.

Over $165 billion

of capital projects have been completed, are underway or approved at the nation’s 30 largest airports alone since 2008. Airlines are strong partners in airport finance, and the long-standing collaboration with airports is helping make air travel more efficient and more convenient for all customers.

Check Out the Airport Renovations Being Done Across the Country With the Existing PFC

Media Resources

Stay up to date with the latest resources on the PFC.

Five More Reasons to Oppose an Increase to the Passenger Facility Charge
More
Details
Airports don’t need a tax hike.
More
Details
5 Reasons Airports Don’t Need A PFC Increase.
More
Details
View More

Featured Videos

Watch the latest videos about the Passenger Facility Charge and how it affects the price of your airline ticket.

Basic Math
Click
to Play
View More

Airports are already flush with cash. Learn the real facts about the PFC.

Learn More