Southwest Georgia Regional Airport renews Passenger Facility Charge

ALBANY — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently approved the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport to continue collecting fees that are used to offset the cost of certain airport improvements.

According to the announcement, the airport is approved to collect a $4.50 Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) from each passenger purchasing a ticket to fly in or out of Albany, with the exclusion of air taxi and commercial operators at the airport.

The PFC is collected by the air carrier issuing the tickets and then is remitted to the airport by the carrier and used to offset the costs of capital improvement projects at the airport.

The most recent PFC was approved by the FAA to be used for projects connected to the airport’s wildlife hazard assessment and commercial apron expansion. It’s not a new charge according to Southwest Georgia Regional Airport Director Yvette Ahele.

“We’ve had a PFC here since 2002,” Ahele said. “We’re allowed to use that money to pay for portions of our federally approved projects. It funds small capital improvements.”

Ahele explained that the majority of airports in Georgia have a PFC as it is a good way to help fund specific projects. It’s one of the reasons she urges people to fly out of Albany rather than other area airports.

“That money comes back to us,” Ahele said. “It helps to improve your hometown airport. When people fly out of other airports they are paying a PFC to improve those airports.”

According to the most recent available data from the FAA 33,441 people flew in or out of Albany in 2012. As Ahele sees it with that volume of passengers the PFC is a good way to generate revenue with minimal impact to the ticket buyer.

“Its a small amount of money, but very useful,” Ahele said.

In the most recent application the airport was requesting to continue the $4.50 PFC to reimburse the City of Albany for expenses related to assessments and work related the demolition of an old terminal building and the relocation of the FAA communications equipment.

The continuation period for this PFC runs from April 1, 2015 to June 1, 2016, when it is expected to generate $105,777 in total revenue for the projects.

With the application period for each PFC approval lasting roughly six months Ahele said the airport is already working on the next PFC application.