Aviation Security Funding

The Issue:  All Americans benefit from a secure, reliable aviation system.  Each year, travelers and airlines pay billions of dollars in security fees, unnecessarily adding to the cost of tickets and impacting air service opportunities.  Higher air fares significantly impact the bottom line for business travel buyers and their travelers.  The GBTA Foundation found that travel buyers expect North America domestic fares in 2012 to increase 5% to $487 for an average round-trip fare.   Taxes on a typical $300 round-trip ticket have nearly tripled since 1972, increasing from 7% to 20%. Particularly in today’s tough economy, business travelers should not be hit with another discriminatory tax that discourages travel. 

After failing to gain Congressional support for an increase in 2012, the Administration again proposed increasing the passenger security fee from $2.50 per segment, up to $10 maximum round-trip, to $5 minimum for a one-way trip and yearly increases of 50 cents from 2014 to 2018, ending with up to a $15 security fee on a round-trip fare. Although the proposed increase has been met by a “brick wall” by many members of Congress, and the revenue from fee increases would only make a tiny dent in reducing the federal deficit, security fee increases remain under consideration.

GBTA Position: GBTA opposes fee increases and believes the safest and most cost-effective approach to aviation security is intelligence-driven, risk-based passenger-screening programs.  Rather than pushing for higher fees, the federal government should focus its resources on accelerating full implementation of these programs.  Additional fee increases are unsustainable and unnecessary, and discourage business travel. 

Relevant Links:
Aviation Security Fees