Coalition Urges House and Senate to Immediately Fund FAA, Causing Critical Airport Infrastructure Delays

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In letters sent this week to leadership of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Senate Commerce Committee, 101 travel and tourism entities joined the U.S. Travel Association in urging an immediate resolution to disagreements over funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"We are deeply concerned about the impact the current impasse is having on the funding stream of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, causing critical airport infrastructure projects to be put on hold and impeding progress towards modernization of our air traffic control system," the letters state. "This situation negatively impacts millions of dollars of construction projects, including those affecting air traffic control towers, communications and weather systems, deployment and testing on the Next Gen air traffic control system, and other vital aviation projects."

Civil aviation and airport infrastructure is critical to the travel industry, which generated $1.8 trillion in economic output and supported 14.1 million jobs in 2010. Earlier this year, the U.S. Travel Association estimated that enacting a long-term FAA reauthorization bill could add $17 billion in travel spending back into the U.S. economy. This spending can support more than 155,000 jobs in the travel industry including lodging, food services, amusement, recreation and retail industries.

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