Fee may buy JWA upgrades

Airlines would retain small amount of the charge, but most of it would go to new expansion plans.Travelers using John Wayne Airport might pay for the bulk of a $512-million improvement plan through a new fee added to their ticket cost.

The $4.50 fee, called a passenger facility charge, would be charged by airlines when passengers leave from John Wayne Airport. The airlines would retain a small amount of the fee, but most of the money would go to the airport’s $437 million expansion plan and $75 million in routine projects as part of regular airport operations, airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said.

The fee is expected to raise about $300 million over 16 years. The Orange County Supervisors are expected to vote Dec. 20 on an overall funding plan for airport improvements that would include the fee. If approved, it could be charged as soon as July 2006.

Wedge said most airports in the country charge such fees -- John Wayne Airport is one of only six mid-size to large airports that doesn’t charge the fee now.

The expansion plan includes a new passenger terminal with six gates, a parking structure to replace one that will be demolished, an additional 2,500 parking spots, more valet parking facilities, and expansion of the airfield to include more overnight parking for aircraft.

The expansion was approved as part of a 2003 amendment to the legal agreement that governs the airport and its capacity.

The airport funding plan will likely use a combination of airport revenues and reserve funds, federal grants and revenue bonds. Most of the money would come from either the passenger fee or added charges to airlines, which would likely show up in ticket prices.

“One way or the other, the passengers will be paying for it,” Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Campbell said.

Campbell said he hasn’t yet decided whether the passenger fee is the most appropriate way to fund the airport projects. The question to him is whether the county should pay off its debt for the work faster, as the passenger fee allows, or stretch it out to have smaller payments.

Because the fee is charged when a passenger departs an airport, someone taking several connecting flights could be hit with multiple fees, but the law only allows two charges from the starting point to the trip’s destination.

Wedge doesn’t expect the fee to raise eyebrows among those who fly into and out of Orange County. When passengers already are spending several hundred dollars on their tickets, she said, “I’m thinking they’re barely going to notice it.”

Supervisor Jim Silva, who represents Costa Mesa and most of Newport Beach, said he’s still considering the options but thinks the airport expansion should be paid for by the people who make it necessary.

“I feel that it should be paid for by people that use the airport rather than your neighbor that’s never been on an airplane, and 65% of the people that use John Wayne live outside the county,” Silva said.