Congressional Report Disregards Negative Economic Impact

Passenger Facility Charge Increase Is Unneeded and Short Sighted

Alexandria, VA (June 21, 2015) – Today, Rep. John Mica’s (R-FL) office released a report calling passenger facility charge (PFC) increases a necessity to avoid “chaos” at airports. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) – the voice of the global business travel industry – issued the following statement in response:

Rep. Mica’s attention-getting report was designed just for that – attention. The problem with Representative Mica’s call to increase costs for travelers is that he wrongly assumes continued tax and fee increases for travelers will not impact the amount of money spent on travel.

However, GBTA economic research clearly shows that for every 1 percent increase in price there is drop in demand of one-half to one percent. Furthermore, since 2008 more than $70 billion in airport capital improvement projects have been completed, are underway or have been approved at airports across the country – without this additional funding.

Too often an increase in traveler fees is the straw that stirs the legislative funding drink, but this PFC increase could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Recently, one GBTA member estimated the proposed PFC increase would add almost $350,000 in cost annually to her company’s travel budget alone. For every 1 percent decrease in travel, the U.S. economy loses 71,000 jobs, nearly $5 billion in GDP, $3 billion in wages and $1.2 billion in tax collections.

Congress should focus on finding ways to improve the nation’s air traffic control system and the airport experience without placing an unnecessary burden on the budget of the business traveler.

CONTACT: Colleen Lerro Gallagher, +1 703-236-1133, cgallagher@gbta.org

About the Global Business Travel Association
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. GBTA’s 9,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA and the GBTA Foundation deliver world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts. To learn how business travel drives lasting business growth, gbta.org