A former U.S. senator who is starting a Las Vegas-based airline says the federal government should cover airport security expenses as a means of aiding the U.S. airline industry, an idea under consideration in the Senate.
Jake Garn, who represented Utah from 1975-93 and was a payload specialist on a space shuttle mission in April 1985, said he doesn't expect lawmakers to offer grants or loans to airlines as they did following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
However, he does think it would be equitable for the federal government to take over paying for the cost of the Transportation Security Administration.
Garn and a team of investors are seeking Department of Transportation certification for Primaris Airlines Inc. The airline would have its operational base in Las Vegas, but the company anticipates initially offering flights between the East Coast and London, Paris and Frankfurt, and not to Las Vegas.
The airline also is exploring transcontinental flights between the East and West coasts and Garn said he is hopeful that service could someday be added to McCarran International Airport.
"I don't like businesses that make promises before they are able to make good on those promises," said Garn, who is the chairman designate of Primaris. "I'm not going to say that we're going to fly to Las Vegas until we're ready to do that. Right now, we're just working on getting certificated."
Garn said he feels it is only fair that the government pay for additional airport security, likening it to the expense of highway patrols on freeways.
"The government imposed these standards and dramatically changed things with the TSA (Transportation Security Administration)," Garn said. "You just can't walk in and out of an airport like we used to. We certainly don't require buses, trains and trucks to fund all the highways they drive on or the highway patrolmen that are out there protecting citizens."
Garn said the airlines already pay for a large portion of their expenses in fuel taxes, just as motorists contribute to roads when they pay taxes on their gasoline.
Garn is watching the debate on airline aid closely. Aviation lobbyists say the industry needs help because of a drop in airline traffic as a result of the war in Iraq. The Washington-based Air Transport Association said air traffic for the week ended March 23 fell 10 percent, with overseas Atlantic traffic to the United States down 25 percent, Pacific traffic down 13 percent and Latin American traffic down 8 percent. Domestic traffic within the United States also was off 7 percent for the week.
Advanced bookings are worse, the association said, with reservations for the next 60 to 90 days down 20 percent domestically and 40 percent in the Atlantic, 15 percent from Latin America and 30 percent from the Pacific.
The ATA projected in a report earlier this month that a war would trigger 70,000 layoffs and the elimination of 2,200 daily flights.
Two airlines serving Las Vegas already have announced cuts. Singapore Airlines said earlier in the month that it would cut its twice-a-week nonstop flights between Las Vegas and Hong Kong for two months beginning April 7.
US Airways, battling to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, said Thursday that it is cutting 4 percent of its routes for a month beginning Wednesday. For Las Vegas, that means the elimination of three round trips a week out of its 27 round-trip flights a week.
Arlington, Va.-based US Airways, the No. 9 carrier at McCarran International Airport by number of flights and seat capacity, said on the company's domestic routes, it is cutting some of its latest flights of the day from three of its hub cities, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C. on the least traveled days of the week -- Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
For Las Vegas, that means the elimination of incoming flights from Pittsburgh on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and from Charlotte on Saturdays, as well as the return flights on those days to those cities.
Harry Kassap, manager of air service development at McCarran, said Thursday no other airlines have notified him of planned service reductions. He said while he is disappointed with the US Airways cutbacks, they are minimal for McCarran.
In another Las Vegas aviation development Thursday, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Linda Riegle continued a hearing for the conversion of National Airlines from a Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation.
Judge Linda Riegle reset the hearing for April 14 to allow federal bankruptcy trustee Tom Grimmett to review National Chief Executive Officer Mike Conway's plans to sell key assets of the company to Northern Air Cargo Inc., Anchorage, Alaska.
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