CONTACT: Caleb Tiller | 703-684-0836 ext. 38
Alexandria, VA (December 22, 2004) -- The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) today objected to increased fees on international air travelers and airlines set to take effect on January 1, 2005. In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, NBTA outlined its opposition to the increase in the Agriculture and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) agricultural quarantine and inspection fees. The Association estimates the fee increases will cost U.S. and international business travelers entering the United States and their companies an additional $500 million in the next six years.
One APHIS fee currently charges airline passengers arriving at U.S. ports $3.10. That fee will increase to $4.95 on January 1 and to $5.00 for fiscal years 2006-2010. Commercial aircrafts arriving in the United States currently incur a user fee of $65.25. That fee is increasing to $70 in 2005 and by $0.25 in each of the subsequent four years. Presumably some or all of that cost will be passed on to air passengers in the form of higher air fares.
The fee change was set by the United States Department of Agriculture without consultation of the affected industries or prior public comment. When the Department announced the increase less than a month before its implementation, it invited public comment during a period that will last until several weeks after the increase is in place.
The letter to Secretary Veneman from NBTA Executive Director and COO Bill Connors, CTC, wrote:
“In its current form, business travelers and their companies will pay an additional $500 million over the next six years to help support a program that will not improve aviation security. NBTA vehemently objects to additional taxes being levied against an industry already collapsing under its current tax burden, which is more than 26% on the average domestic ticket. NBTA strongly believes that travel security is national security and therefore should be funded as such. An additional tax levied against an aviation industry just beginning to recover from the toughest period in its history is not only unfair but reckless. International business travel is an essential component to the American economic engine and should not be discouraged by yet another tax.”
Connors went on in the letter to “welcome the opportunity to work with the United States Department of Agriculture in finding a more reasonable means of funding this program.”
The National Business Travel Association is the source for critical information on the business travel industry. For more than 35 years, NBTA has dedicated itself to the professional development of its members through advocacy, education and training, and networking opportunities. NBTA represents over 2,500 corporate travel managers and travel service providers, who collectively manage and direct more than $170 billion of expenditures within the business travel industry.
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