Airports say they also need more revenue

U.S. airports have several ways to raise the revenue they need for operations and capital improvements but the most important in recent years has been the passenger facilities charge, the $4.50 fee added to every airline ticket. Airports now say they are stymied, in good measure by the airlines themselves, in raising the fee to keep up with their needs. Airlines have come to depend on fees paid by customers, and there are no restrictions in law -- only in the marketplace -- on what they can charge to recover costs.

But any increase in the airport PFCs must be approved by Congress, where airline lobbyists apparently have more clout than airport lobbyists do. Airlines usually get what they need from Congress, including a refusal in the last few sessions to raise the fee.  Read a good Joe Sharkey column in the New York Times today on the airports' dilemma.