ATA Wants PFC Cap to Stay

When you buy an airline ticket, you pay a whole slew of additional fees on top of the base fare. One of these is the "passenger facility charge," better known as the PFC. This is a fee levied onto every enplaning passenger. So let's say I'm flying to Los Angeles and back from Providence, with a connection in Philadelphia along the way. On the way out I'd pay $4.50 each to Providence and Philadelphia's airports, and $4.50 to Los Angeles and Philadelphia on the way back.

This is a major source of revenue for airports - who are expected to raise $2.8 billion this year through the program. Right now the PFCs are capped at $4.50. The airports would like to raise that to $7. The airlines, of course, aren't very excited about that. They're not paying the fees, but their passengers have to pay the increased total fares. The concern is that the higher prices will end up decreasing demand. So this is a big debate for the FAA reauthorization bill. Right now the House version has the increased cap, but the Senate does not.

So we'll see how this goes - but it will be fun to watch - and can have an effect on the end price you pay. So let's see how it ends up.

Read more at Aviation Week.

Las Vegas Gets Even More Interesting With Twitter

I've written in this space before about Las Vegas Airport beginning its use of Twitter. And, like other airports, they've been using it to communicate with their passengers. But this week the airport started something I haven't seen before - it's now using Twitter as a way to communicate with potential vendors.

This is definitely a unique approach. But hey, it's a cheap way to communicate with potential businesses who want to do business at the airport - why not?

Parking Issues at St. Louis

You'd think that with American closing it's St. Louis hub, which came from TWA, there would be plenty of parking at the airport. But unfortunately some passengers are experiencing the opposite. See, Southwest has been filling the void left by American. Not that it's anywhere near American/TWA at its peak, but Southwest has helped the airport maintain nonstop service to some cities.

So more passengers are flying Southwest - herein lies the problem. Southwest uses a different terminal than American, and this terminal has a relatively small parking lot. Hence, travelers are complaining about a lack of parking during the week. There's not a lack of parking, just a lack of convenient parking.

One way to deal with this, of course, is to build more parking, but that's more expensive. I guess the airport could increase prices a bit to restrict demand, but that's not great, either. I guess the best advice at this point is that one should expect to have a shuttle ride to the terminal - so be sure to allow plenty of time before your flight.

Branson To Receive Expanded Service

Photo Credit

Branson Airport has been a very interesting story to watch of late. The airport is privately-funded, which makes it very excited. It has been working very hard to build up air service. Sun Country has left the airport, and AirTran has cut back its service a bit by eliminating the Milwaukee route. So the airport has made some dramatic moves to generate more service. Hell, Branson is paying ExpressJet to start doing flying as "Branson Air Express" to some local and regional destinations.

But we saw some interesting news with Frontier yesterday. The airline has been expanding pretty ambitiously of late, mainly to smaller markets where there isn't much competition. It had initially announced four flights a week to Denver, but is now boosting service due to demand. Denver will receive a fifth nonstop in July, along with new nonstop service to Milwaukee three times a week. It looks like the Denver flight will just continue on to Milwaukee and then head back to Denver via Branson on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the Saturday flight originating and terminating in Milwaukee.

Clear to Make a Comeback?

Who remembers Clear? If you don't, it was an attempt to create a registered traveler program, much like the one currently in Israel. It was run by a private company that collected extensive information on its members - including biometric data. The hope was that would result in shorter screenings for members. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way, as the TSA wasn't the biggest fan. In the end, the program became a glorified elite line. Clear members often faced shorter waiting times, but they want through the same screening as everyone else. The company that ran the program, Verified Identity Pass, ended up going bankrupt.

Well, the assets of the company have been purchased in bankruptcy court, the the new company, actually named Clear, says that they are already nearing agreements with many airports to offer the service, which will be available for $179/year,  cheaper than its predecessor. It would be nice to the see the program come back with some better benefits, though shorter lines on its own is pretty handy.

Read more at The New York Times.

Philadelphia Plans Expansion

I have a love-hate relationship with Philadelphia Airport.  On one hand, I connected there for a lot of childhood trips, so there are a lot of good childhood memories associated with that place. I also got a backstage tour last year, which was pretty cool. On the other hand, I've been delayed there more often than I would like.

But there's a new plan proposed by the FAA that should help that problem. The $5.2-billion proposal includes a terminal expansion as well as a new terminal for regional flights, and a people move system to connect them all together. But there are some exciting runway moves coming as well that should alleviate delays. Runway 8/26 is currently at 5,000 feet, which restricts what kinds of aircraft can use it. That will be expanded by 2,000 feet. Runway 9R/27L becomes 9C/27C (if a new runway is built) and will be expanded as well, and a new 9R/27L will be built along the Delaware river, provided UPS is willing to give up its current space at the airport.

So in theory, the extra runway space should help out. While the original article doesn't mention it, having three parallel runways should allow for having operations on all three at once. That already happens with two runways at some times right now, though I've learned that isn't the best configuration delay-wise, at least for US Airways, as the taxi times become longer.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how Philadelphia develops. They have a huge operation there in a very small footprint, which is restricted thanks to the Delaware River. You can read more at the Philadelphia Inquirer here.

Well, Someone Had to Make It

Man, miniclip.com and I have some memories together. That site got big when I was about ten or so, and I've been playing games there ever since. Recently, the site released a game based on...you guessed it...the volcanic ash cloud. Your job is to dodge the ash clouds in the sky while flying faster than the really big cloud looming behind you. It's actually pretty darn entertaining - you can play here.

Great Video of European Air Traffic After the Cloud

Ah, remember the ash cloud from Iceland that screwed up air traffic? Well, it's, um, causing a lot of travel headaches again, though fortunately it's only a few airports in Ireland are Scotland are currently being affected. Eurocontrol says about 300 flights of about 29,000 total will be canceled. So it's of course annoying for those who are affected, but nowhere near what was happening before.

Anyway, there's an interesting video been going around showing European air traffic when the cloud was wreaking havoc - it really is amazing.

Save Five Bucks on Gogo’s New Supscription

The nice people over at Aircell e-mailed me last week to let me know of a new promotion they're having for their new monthly subscription. This new product works on all Gogo-equipped aircraft (over 800 right now), so that's handy if you usually fly a few different airlines.

A monthly subscription will cost you $34.95. That does sound a bit steep at first, but considering that it costs $12.95 to use the service on one flight over three hours, it can be a great deal if you fly (and use Gogo) pretty often. The subscription renews automatically every month, so be aware f that.

To save $5 on the first month of your monthly subscription, just use the promo code get5off.

What Does United/Continental Mean for Airports?

This morning, United and Continental finally confirmed what has been reported for a couple of weeks - the two airlines have decided to merge. If you want to read my opinion on the airline side of things, feel free to head over here. But since this blog is more airport-focused, let's take a look at that angle here.

Mergers can make airports nervous. Especially those that are smaller hub airports. For example, American cut TWA's old St. Louis hub when it merged with them. The merged US Airways has eliminated Pittsburgh and Las Vegas hubs. Delta is still holding on to its Cincinnati operation, though it has seen some serious cutbacks.

So what's up for the hubs of a combined airline, if this deal closes? I think most of the hubs are safe. Houston will become the busiest, with other large hubs in Chicago, Washington, Newark, Denver, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Right now, the only hub that I think is a bit week is Cleveland, which would be a second Midwestern hub. The hub's route network does remind me of some of the smaller hubs that have been cut. Of course, if it's profitable, United will keep it, but I'm a bit unsure as to Cleveland' s future as a hub. I have to think there are some interesting meetings going on in Cleveland today.