7a supp
Item No. 7a_Supp 1 Date of Meeting: February 26, 2013 Passenger Facility Charges: Background and Role Port of Seattle Commission Briefing February 26, 2013 Background Anti-Head Tax Act enacted by Congress in 1973 after Supreme Court rejected airline efforts to stop airports from charging per person rates FAA Reauthorization Act in 1990 amended Anti- Head Tax Act to create PFC program as exemption to earlier prohibition Authorized airport governing bodies to impose a PFC of $3.00 without violating Anti-Head Tax Act FAA Reauthorization Act in 2000 increased PFC cap to $4.50 Background PFCs are collected by airlines on the ticket and remitted (minus administrative fee) to airports Can be charged only on initial two legs of itinerary. Can only be used for aeronautical capital expenses $4.50 in 2000 dollars is worth ~$2.45 in 2013 dollars All 29 large hub airports collect PFCs PFC use at Sea-Tac Port levied PFC in 1992 and increased it to $4.50 in 2001 Collected $956 million to date PFCs have helped fund: Concourse A Construction of 16R / 34L Noise Projects Reconstruction of Satellite Transit System Project costs paid by PFCs are not included in airline rates . Flickr/Digital Cat See Also London's Future Airport Could Float On The Thames American Airlines Blames Loose Seats On Soda The 10 Best Airlines In The U.S. Some people brush off airplane codes as one of life's little mysteries. Boston's airport code is BOS, which is simple enough, but EWR for Newark is just "one of those things." Right? Turns out there's a rhyme and reason for just about every airport code out there. An article originally published in December 1994 in Air Line Pilots journal by Dave English explains nearly every mysterious airport code you've ever come across. In the early 20th century, there were only a handful of "airports," which in reality were just any area big enough for a plane to land or take off. But when other airports started cropping up in the 1930s, the previous coding system had to be reevaluated. The airports with two-letter weather station codes received an X on the end (LA became LAX and Portland's PD became PDX), and every subsequent airport was given three letters. Those three letters were usually the first three letters of the city name Atlanta became ATL, Boston is BOS, etc. But in some cases, the codes are a little more confusing: 1. An airport code is named after the airport itself: Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris is CDG, John F. Kennedy airport in New York is JFK. 2. The airport is named after the location: Harrisburg International airport is actually located in Middletown, Pennsylvania, and is known as MDT. 3. The airport is named after a historical figure: Knoxville airport in Tennessee was built on land donated by the Tyson Family in honor of their son killed in WWI (TYS). 4. Locations beginning with an 'N': The Navy saved all of the new 'N' codes for itself, thus Newark becomes EWR, while the Navy training airport in Pensacola, Florida is NPA. 5. Locations beginning with W or K are only for radio stations east and west of the Mississippi, respectively. So Wilmington, North Carolina becomes ILM and Key West, Florida is EYW. 6. 'Q' is designated for international telecommunications. 7. 'Z' is reserved for special uses: ZCX is the computer address of FAA's air traffic control headquarters, for example. 8. Canadians got all the 'Y' codes. YUL for Montreal, YYZ for Toronto, and so on. The system gets even more complex if you take into account all of the new, smaller airports that were given codes with numbers or four letter combinations. Not to mention international airports and flights for example, all flights entering the US have airport codes with a 'K' in front of the original three-letter code (Key West then gets to be called KEYW). There isn't really a need for you to remember all of these facts given that most tickets and airlines will display not only the airport code, but the name and location of your destination as well. But at least the next time you fly into Newark, you'll remember why its code is EWR. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/airport-codes-explained-2012-10#ixzz2A9xJxjhg fu PFCs have partially or fully funded $___ million in projects via Financial Benefit PFCs can reduce debt issuance and/or pay for debt service On pay-as-you-go basis (e.g., noise projects), PFCs can be substituted dollar for dollar -- for debt issuance If used to pay debt service (e.g., third runway), a PFC revenue stream pays debt service on projects Considered most efficient due to matching PFC cash flow with life of project Also serve as "additional revenue" and increase ratio of funds available vs. debt service, increasing Port debt service coverage (rating agencies use different calculation) Could help fund FIS, NorthStar, 16C/34C reconstruction Current Airport Industry Concerns Declining value of PFCs, last increased in 2000 Increased debt issuance Pressure on airline cost per enplanement Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds declining; maximum appropriations in 2015 will equal half of 2006 appropriations (constant $) Vast majority of authorized PFCs are already committed to projects; little capacity remaining National Airport Policy Proposal Airport industry has advocated since 2005 an increase in federal cap on PFC's to allow local airport governing bodies to determine best means of funding airport projects While FAA Reauthorization will not be considered by Congress till 2015, current search for federal spending cuts presents an immediate opportunity Action may take place in connection with "sequestration" (March 1); end of Continuing Resolution (March 27); Budget deadline (April 15); and debt ceiling action (late May) National Airport Policy Proposal US Policy Board of ACI-NA and many large hub airports have proposed reducing federal AIP spending coupled with changes in PFC rules Raise PFC cap to $8.50 for all airports and cut $1.9 billion in AIP (last quarter of entitlement spending) Allow larger airports to raise their PFC further if they give up all access to AIP saving as much as $4.4 billion in AIP (figures are over 10 years) Large airports reducing demand on, or leaving, AIP program will help preserve declining appropriations for smaller airports National Airport Policy Proposal Congressional action would only adjust the cap on the PFC and establish lower budgets for future AIP spending Any actual change in PFC levels imposed at airports would be the prerogative of the local governing boards of airports Port staff would evaluate change in PFC level as one option in Plan of Finance, and bring recommendation to Commission Policy Proposal Staff requests Commission authorization for the Chief Executive Officer and Port staff to advocate for amendments to the federal statute governing the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) program to give locally elected officials at public airports authority to increase the PFC above the current limit of $4.50. -------------------------------- If Congress changes the caps, Port staff would evaluate merit of changing PFC levels as part of Plan of Finance and make recommendation to the Commission.
Limitations of Translatable Documents
PDF files are created with text and images are placed at an exact position on a page of a fixed size.
Web pages are fluid in nature, and the exact positioning of PDF text creates presentation problems.
PDFs that are full page graphics, or scanned pages are generally unable to be made accessible, In these cases, viewing whatever plain text could be extracted is the only alternative.