COSTELLO PRAISES HOUSE-PASSED AIR-21 AVIATION LEGISLATION

WASHINGTON- U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL), one of the members of the conference committee which drafted the bill overhauling the nation’s aviation system, praised its passage by the U.S. House of Representatives today as a step toward ‘preparing our skies for the next century of aviation.’

“This legislation will finally unlock the Aviation Trust Fund and use that money for what it was intended, to upgrade our nation’s airport facilities and air traffic control system, to change the way our planes use the sky in ways we could not have imagined a decade ago,” said Costello, a member of the House Aviation Subcommittee. “AIR-21 will benefit Illinois, our region and the entire nation as more and more of our citizens choose the skies as their main mode of travel.”

With House passage, the bill - already approved 82-17 by the Senate last week - now goes to the White House for the President’s signature.

In Illinois, AIR-21 would guarantee a new, minimum annual entitlement of $150,000 for small general aviation airports, including these in the 12th Congressional District: Cairo, MidAmerica, Pinckneyville-DuQuoin, Southern Illinois Airport in Carbondale, St. Louis Downtown Parks, and St. Louis Regional Airport in Bethalto.

The bill authorizes $40 billion over the next three years, a 41% increase over current spending, to spend down money currently in the Aviation Trust Fund, paid for through user fees. The nation’s major airports and airlines have complained about Congress and the Administration using the growing Trust Fund to offset what was the federal budget deficit in past years. Aviation advocates, including Costello, pushed to open up the Trust Fund to improve the nation’s aviation facilities.

The bill also increases from 12 to 15 the number of current and former military airports which can receive funding for joint-use aviation proposals, such as those at Scott Air Force Base. Significantly for airports in smaller communities in the Midwest, the bill eliminates the current ‘slot’ restrictions at O’Hare International Airport effective May 1, 2000, for regional jet service.

“This bill opens up Illinois’ airports to more and improved service, to the convenience and safety for the flying customer,” Costello said. “It is the legislation we need to make our aviation system ready for the next century.”