Airlines ask legislators for reduced airport fees

By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer

Airline executives asked state legislators yesterday to help keep air travel to Hawai'i stable by cutting or suspending landing fees and other charges even before any breakout of war with Iraq .

The airlines said the industry is in turmoil now and faces more uncertainty with the imminent war, which could send Hawai'i's tourism-based economy into another tailspin.

At a hearing yesterday of the House Select Committee on War Preparedness, the airlines asked to lower or waive landing fees, fuel taxes, airport rental charges and agricultural inspection requirements.

Gilbert Kimura, sales director for Japan Airlines in Hawai'i, said he was concerned that Japanese travelers would react to a war with Iraq as they did after Sept. 11 when tourism to Hawai'i from Japan plummeted.

"We felt that finally we were returning to normal," Kimura said. But a Gulf war could take the industry "back to where we were," he said.

According to the Airlines Committee of Hawai'i, airlines pay $3 million in state landing fees, $1.2 million in terminal rentals and $2.2 million in airport charges each month.

Federal fees and rules are also issues with the carriers. The airline industry has been lobbying Congress to repeal the security tax of $2.50 per person and waive antitrust rules to allow the airlines to work together on such issues as flight capacities, said Ron Wright, managing director of Continental Airlines in Hawai'i.

A waiver of state landing fees would not be unprecedented. Former Gov. Ben Cayetano suspended the fees following Sept. 11 until Feb. 28 last year, saving the airlines $15.8 million.

Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2470.