ACI-NA Meeting With DOT To Push PFC Increase

U.S. airports are making another push to convince the federal government to raise the passenger facility charge (PFC) cap, which has remained unchanged for 25 years.

With a new presidential administration taking office earlier this year, Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) is again making the case that the PFC cap should be increased, citing a major gap between airport infrastructure needs and the funding sources to pay for upgrades. The organization says the PFC—a flight ticket fee collected by airlines and passed on to airports to pay for FAA-approved construction projects—is a key mechanism to fund infrastructure development in a country in which most airports are publicly owned and managed by municipalities.

“I'm a pretty optimistic guy,” ACI-NA CEO Kevin Burke told Aviation Week in an interview. “We have been working quietly [discussing a PFC cap increase] with the Trump administration, with DOT [Transportation Department] and the FAA.”

The cap was last raised with the passage of the 2000 FAA reauthorization legislation signed by then-President Bill Clinton, increasing the maximum PFC from $3 to $4.50 per flight segment, following a contentious debate in Congress. ACI-NA has long argued on behalf of U.S. airports that the $4.50 cap has failed to keep pace with rising construction costs.

Airlines, meanwhile, have long opposed an increase, calling the PFC a “hidden tax” on passengers. Congress has refused to budge on the issue.

Burke says if the Trump administration could be convinced to back a PFC cap increase, Congress could be persuaded to take action. “The way we've explained it to them is PFCs don't cost the federal government anything,” he said. “As a matter of fact, it helps them in terms of how much money they have to invest in airports. So, while we have no green light [from the administration] supporting a PFC increase, we haven't gotten a no either.”

To fund infrastructure projects, airports can collect PFCs from passengers via airlines, with a maximum for each passenger of $4.50 per flight segment, $9 per one-way trip (if a passenger has a flight change) and $18 per roundtrip.

The FAA must approve every PFC-funded project. The 100 busiest airports in the U.S. by enplanements all collect PFCs. U.S. airports collected a total of $3.7 billion in PFCs in 2024 and are expected to collect $3.8 billion in 2025, according to FAA statistics. In 2001, the first full year the $4.50 cap was in place, airports collected $1.6 billion in PFCs.

Persuading Secretary Duffy

Burke said ACI-NA has been meeting with U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s staff regarding a potential PFC cap increase. “What we've learned in working with this administration is if this is going to help them, and it makes good sense politically for them, we can get their support,” he said. “We're taking it one meeting at a time with them. We have met with the policy people who are advising Secretary Duffy … PFCs are not going to cost the feds anything, and it's not a large fee. But yet, if you were to increase it by just $2-$3, then you're talking about an awful lot of money that's going to come to an airport they didn't have before.”

ACI-NA is not pushing a specific PFC cap number, saying the fee should increase based on inflation, particularly rising costs in construction materials.

Burke said more PFC money “translates into less money airports have to go and get bonded through Wall Street.” 

“We continue to work on this,” he said. ”We're always going to get opposition from the airlines, but I'm optimistic that if [DOT] sees it's good for them, good for the country and if they can sell it that way, it might be good for airports.”

Airline Opposition

Airlines strongly oppose any PFC increase. Airlines for America (A4A) has a dedicated website called “Stop Air Tax Now” aimed at preventing the $4.50 PFC cap from rising. “There’s a hidden tax on your airline tickets and airports want to raise it even higher,” A4A states on the website.

A4A notes a family of four can pay up to $72 in PFCs on a roundtrip. Every $1 rise in the PFC cap would increase that total by $16 per roundtrip for a family of four.

A4A says it supports airport investment, but points to numerous airport infrastructure projects across the U.S. that have been completed in recent years, including Pittsburgh International Airport’s new $1.7 billion terminal set to open Nov. 18. “Airports are flush with cash,” A4A contends, noting that more than $200 billion has been invested in improvement projects at U.S. airports since 2008 without any PFC cap increase.

But ACI-NA counters that airports have had to take on a lot of debt to finance those projects. The organization estimates U.S. airports have $173.9 billion in infrastructure development needs over the next five years.

“If you break that down by year, it’s $35 billion a year,” ACI-NA Executive Vice President Matt Cornelius said during a panel discussion at the recent Routes’ Takeoff North America conference in Tallahassee, Florida. “Federal programs [such as the Airport Improvement Program] and PFCs only get you about $8 billion a year. So there’s a huge gap.”

In an airport infrastructure needs report released earlier this year, ACI-NA said: “The PFC’s potential as a funding tool is severely curtailed [by the $4.50 cap], leaving airports unable to fully leverage this resource for necessary improvements. Given the significant debt burden many airports already have incurred due to insufficient revenue streams, there is an urgent need for greater flexibility in funding mechanisms.”

Burke said he believes airline opposition to a PFC cap increase stems from major carriers wanting “to retain control” over hub airports. “You have certain airports that are fortress hubs, and airlines have invested heavily in those airports because it's important for them,” he explained. “They don't really care about their competition.”

Burke said airlines are happy with gate expansion at their hubs if the gates are used by the hub carrier. “But if you're bringing in an Avelo Airlines, if you're bringing in a low-cost carrier to fill those gates or, God forbid, you are able to move an airline to a gate based upon what the airport needs versus what the airline needs, then you run into trouble [with hub carriers]. But infrastructure is probably our No. 1 issue in terms of the future.”

Contentious History

From spring 1999 to spring 2000, Congress spent a year wrangling over an FAA reauthorization bill called the Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, popularly known as AIR 21. PFCs—originally created by Congress in the 1990 FAA reauthorization bill—were one of the more contentious issues in the AIR 21 debate.

The House of Representatives voted 245-183 to double the PFC cap from $3 to $6 per flight segment, but the Senate balked, insisting the cap remain unchanged. Eventually, the two chambers reached a compromise, raising the cap to $4.50 in the final AIR 21 legislation signed by Clinton in April 2000.