President Obama proposed an increase in airline passenger duty last week.
Obama proposes imposing a $100 fee on each commercial airliner and corporate jet every time they take off; raising the per-passenger security fee, which helps pay for the Transportation Security Administration’s airport screening, from the current $2.50 for each leg of a flight to a maximum $5 for a one-way trip to a flat $5 one way. The fee also would rise another 50 cents a year from 2013 through 2017 to $7.50. The Homeland Security Department could raise it further through regulation.
The increases would be passed on to passengers through ticket prices, and airlines fear this will have a detrimental effect on traffic numbers.
However, the Obama administration says the rises are needed to cover the agency’s costs. The security fees that passengers pay now only cover about 43% of its costs of providing security in the air. The president says that it needs to better cover the agency’s costs.