House Passes Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization

The House this week passed H.R. 915, a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding and safety oversight programs for four years with a total authorized spending level of $70 billion.  The bill includes a total of $16.2 billion for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), the primary source of federal funding for airport capital projects.  The bill also allows airports to increase the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) on airline flights from $4.50 to $7.00, which is estimated to generate $1billion per year in additional revenue for airport infrastructure investment. The most recent multi-year authorization of the FAA expired on September 30,2007.  The programs have been operating under a series of short-term extensions since that time.  The Senate has not yet acted on reauthorization legislation this year.