THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996 TAG: 9602030342
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Norfolk International Airport could start charging $3 to arriving and departing passengers as soon as next year to help pay for capital improvements.
The airport commission may join the majority of airports nationwide that assess the regulated $3 passenger facility charges, said Wayne Shank, deputy executive director of the Norfolk Airport Authority.
``We're definitely leaning in that direction,'' Shank said.
The charge isn't likely to increase most ticket prices because fliers to and from Norfolk are already paying them for other airports, Shank said.
``If we don't impose the fee, the money goes elsewhere,'' he added.
Such charges are capped at $3 an airport and $6 a one-way trip. The charges are allotted to the first two airports in a trip that assess the charge, Shank said.
Washington's National Airport in Arlington, Dulles International, Richmond International Airport and the Charlottesville airport already charge the fee.
``We are going to be a user-funded airport in the future,'' Shank said. ``We're not going to be able to tap the taxpayer for future passenger facility development.''
The fees collected could be used to help pay for airport maintenance and for projects in the airport's newly released master plan update. Airport officials didn't have a preliminary estimate for how much money the fee would generate.
The airport authority released the update in December, which calls for $360.5 million of capital improvement spending during the next 35 years.
The plan, mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration, is designed to estimate the facility's future traffic demands and project its infrastructure needs.
The plan calls for the airport to eventually build a 7,000-foot runway, expand parking, add a concourse for gates and construct a new general aviation and air cargo facility.
The airport's first priority is expanding its baggage handling and claim capacity, and its curbside parking.
Toward that end, the commission is considering erecting a separate arrival and baggage claim building adjacent to the existing parking garage. Planning is expected to start this year; construction could begin as soon as 1998, Shank said.
Any capital improvement project before January 1999 needs to be approved by a majority of the airlines serving the airport because they backed the bonds issued in 1971 to pay for the airport's existing terminal.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT by CNB