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> How much does the US subsidize air travel via FAA, airport subsidies, etc? My plane ticket receipt contains fees for half a dozen various government costs, i

> How much does the US subsidize air travel via FAA, airport subsidies, etc? My plane ticket receipt contains fees for half a dozen various government costs, including airport fees and a general US transportation tax. The FAA is pretty trivial, having a budget of just under $10B out of total American spending on domestic air travel of more than $800B. https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/mission/budget/304496/faa-fy2019cj-budgetfinal508compliant.pdf https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/miss... https://www.statista.com/statistics/207075/domestic-travel-spending-in-the-us-since-2000/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/207075/domestic-travel-s... For all I know air travel may very well be subsidized, but you'll need to point to some serious numbers for it to be anything like the money that Amtrak hemorrhages as a fraction of its revenue.

Retric 9y ago
There are a lot of subsidies, but they tend to be individually small. Essential Air Service subsidies Airlines serving rural communities which significantly increases overall ridership. Air Transportation Safety and Stabilization Act as just one example was 10 billion in loan subsidies after 9/11. Another example most Airports are heavily subsidies at least during construction, but so is some airline infrastructure like Indianapolis handing over $300 million for a United Repair shop. The military intentionally creates a huge stream of trained pilots without costing the Airlines a dime. All of this is intentional so no one subsidy seem all that large, and adding up a thousand little pieces take enough effort that nobody complains. PS: "Per passenger EAS subsidy in the 48 contiguous states plus Puerto Rico ranged from $10 to more than $977 per passenger in 2014" but it's only ~300 million per year so no big deal right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_Air_Service https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_Air_Service
jcranmer 9y ago
Most of the costs of building and expanding airports are not borne by the airlines themselves but by the public via federal, state, and local governments. Admittedly, most of the cost of railroad infrastructure is not maintained by Amtrak itself, but the Class I railroads are profitable enough to take on major projects like rebuilding their routes to double-stack container clearances themselves.
- pzone 9y ago
  Expanding airports isn't done for free. Airports charge fees to airlines for use of their runways, and they lease the commercial space inside. Any subsidies that go on here are second order - certainly not $32 per passenger.
  - jcranmer 9y ago
    Note that airlines don't reap the benefits of airport commercial revenue, and I expect most large airports make an operating profit, but I don't believe that many airports make a profit when capital costs are accounted for.
- jessriedel 9y ago
  Numbers?
- sokoloff 9y ago
  The FAA AIP (Airport Improvement Program) grants typically cover 90% of airport improvement projects, with 10% coming from the local entities (state/county/town as appropriate). That program is around $3.35BB of the $10BB total FAA expense.

Retric 9y ago

There are a lot of subsidies, but they tend to be individually small. Essential Air Service subsidies Airlines serving rural communities which significantly increases overall ridership. Air Transportation Safety and Stabilization Act as just one example was 10 billion in loan subsidies after 9/11. Another example most Airports are heavily subsidies at least during construction, but so is some airline infrastructure like Indianapolis handing over $300 million for a United Repair shop. The military intentionally creates a huge stream of trained pilots without costing the Airlines a dime. All of this is intentional so no one subsidy seem all that large, and adding up a thousand little pieces take enough effort that nobody complains. PS: "Per passenger EAS subsidy in the 48 contiguous states plus Puerto Rico ranged from $10 to more than $977 per passenger in 2014" but it's only ~300 million per year so no big deal right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_Air_Service https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_Air_Service

jcranmer 9y ago

Most of the costs of building and expanding airports are not borne by the airlines themselves but by the public via federal, state, and local governments. Admittedly, most of the cost of railroad infrastructure is not maintained by Amtrak itself, but the Class I railroads are profitable enough to take on major projects like rebuilding their routes to double-stack container clearances themselves.

pzone 9y ago
Expanding airports isn't done for free. Airports charge fees to airlines for use of their runways, and they lease the commercial space inside. Any subsidies that go on here are second order - certainly not $32 per passenger.
- jcranmer 9y ago
  Note that airlines don't reap the benefits of airport commercial revenue, and I expect most large airports make an operating profit, but I don't believe that many airports make a profit when capital costs are accounted for.
jessriedel 9y ago
Numbers?
sokoloff 9y ago
The FAA AIP (Airport Improvement Program) grants typically cover 90% of airport improvement projects, with 10% coming from the local entities (state/county/town as appropriate). That program is around $3.35BB of the $10BB total FAA expense.