The Federal Aviation Administration's reauthorization process may not be a major opportunity for the nation's airports to reinvent themselves due to the large amount of funding passed in recent years, but it does present an opportunity for them to identify the challenges they still face.
"Because of the airports really doing well in the earlier bipartisan measures, they're in good shape but you just want to make sure that in order for that to be a plus up that you do well with the reauthorization process," said Rodney Slater, a partner at Squire Patton Boggs who was U.S. Secretary of Transportation from 1997-2001 during the Bill Clinton administration. "If they can stay around $107 or so billion, maybe even a little more, then they will have accomplished that end."
Bill Shuster, a former congressman who was chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and is now a senior policy advisor for Squire Patton Boggs, said airports don't have a major dog in the fight this time around and that their interests are on the edges of the major concerns of the bill.
"There's a little bit of rumblings, but the airports in the last couple of bills, IIJA and Inflation Reduction Act, probably received in the vicinity of $50 billion," said Shuster. "I think they're more concerned about holding on to that than they are messing around with the PFC, which is always very controversial."
The Inflation Reduction Act also included $297 million for the Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Low-Emissions Aviation Technology Grant Program, a competitive grant program at the DOT that will allow state and local governments, airport sponsors, for-profit companies, research institutions and many others to produce sustainable aviation fuel, as well as the capacity to develop or implement low-emission aviation technologies. That will come up in negotiations despite there being bipartisan agreement so far.
Airports Council International - North America estimated in March that America's airports need $151 billion over the next five years to fund the necessary infrastructure projects, a more than 30% jump from the $115 billion just two years ago.
But outside of the sheer funding measures, there are other concerns about the future of air travel and airport traffic that will gain some attention and could have wide-ranging effects for years to come.
A point of contention is the slot and perimeter rules and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The perimeter rule limits the distance of nonstop flights to and from Reagan to 1,250 miles, a measure intended to reduce congestion and encourage the use of the larger Dulles International Airport. Similarly, the slot rule controls congestion at five high-traffic airports and requires airlines to obtain a "slot" or authorization. They remain a Congressional priority mainly because Reagan and Dulles are federally owned.
"DCA is already at capacity, and any changes to the slot and perimeter rules will increase traffic, noise, congestion and delays. Cities and states that rely on convenient, on-time access to Washington as a destination or connection risk losing access to the long-haul flights airlines will prioritize instead," The Coalition to Protect America's Regional Airports said.
The coalition feels, in collaboration with local lawmakers and communities, that airport authorities are best places to make operational decisions and oppose any changes to the slot and perimeter rules at DCA.
"With the expansion of Metro access to Dulles, long-distance flights from the Washington region have never been more accessible or competitive," Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Virginia Democrats, said in a joint statement. "The slot and perimeter rules help to balance consistent world-class aviation services at the region's three major airports, which has in turn allowed for billions of dollars in private-sector capital investment in the metropolitan Washington area. As Congress prepares to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, we will strongly oppose any efforts to disrupt or undermine the balance between Dulles and National, an airport one-fourteenth the size of Dulles."
These issues are much more contentious in the Senate bill than the one already funneling through the House. The House Transportation Committee approved changes to raise the retirement age of pilots to 67 from 65, which will be problematic in the Senate, Shuster said.
The Senate measure making it easier for pilots to earn their 1,500 training hours, introduced by Sens. John Thune, R-S.D. and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., derailed immediate negotiations on the bill.
The House Ways and Means Committee recently approved legislation renewing aviation taxes for five years, passing the bill along party lines but erupting into a larger partisan brawl because Democrats felt that Republicans included a border patrol earmark for Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.
The measure would designate the Plattsburgh International Airport in her district as a "port of entry" that would exempt it from paying user fees for Customs and Border Protection services, and typically cost an airport $600,000 a year.
Congress is in recess for two weeks over the July 4th holiday and has until Sept. 30 to finalize the bill before the previous authorization expires.
"Having come together on the debt ceiling measure, and then the big bipartisan infrastructure measures before that, I think creates momentum for a similar type of action on the part of the Congress," Slater said. "I think this bill can be that and it would be a real lost opportunity if that were not the case."
