Airlines for America (A4A) Calls on Congress to Improve TSA Efficiency, Not Add Taxes

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May 22, 2012, 04:18 ET

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, again urged Congress to improve efficiency within the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), not pile more taxes on already burdened airline passengers, as approved today by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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"It's a simple equation: When you add taxes, demand for air travel is dampened, resulting in lost jobs and lost air service," said A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio. "Our customers today pay 20 percent - $60 on an average $300 domestic roundtrip ticket - of their ticket prices in taxes, on par with taxes for alcohol and tobacco, products taxed to discourage their use."

Under the proposal approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, security taxes would double from $2.50 to $5, which would cost airline passengers more than $700 million annually and could impact 76,000 good-paying jobs.

A4A said programs that take a risk-based approach to security, including TSA PreCheck and Known Crewmember, and enable TSA to focus its resources on greater threats are a more appropriate way to improve efficiency within the TSA.

ABOUT A4A
Annually, commercial aviation helps drive more than $1 trillion in U.S. economic activity and nearly 10 million U.S. jobs. A4A airline members and their affiliates transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger and cargo traffic. For more information about the airline industry, visit www.airlines.org and follow us on Twitter @airlinesdotorg.

SOURCE Airlines for America