Copyright 2002 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
October 3, 2002 Thursday Home Edition
SECTION: Business; Pg. 4G

LENGTH: 382 words

HEADLINE: Senators cool to bailout;
Carriers get pity, no cash promises

BYLINE: MARILYN GEEWAX

SOURCE: Cox Washington Bureau

BODY:
Washington --- Most Senate Commerce Committee members expressed concern Wednesday for the nation's struggling airlines, but none offered to sponsor an industry tax cut or cash bailout.

"We simply cannot help every troubled industry," committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said during a hearing on airlines' financial woes. "In this environment, and with the federal budget deficit exploding, it is difficult to justify singling out the airlines for additional aid less than one year after the last package was approved."

Still, Delta Air Lines chief Leo Mullin and other industry supporters did not leave empty-handed. The House aviation subcommittee approved legislation that by some estimates could save carriers roughly $1.5 billion a year.

The bill would extend discounted "war-risk" insurance through next year and limit liability for terrorist acts. It also would set a deadline for improving the screening of U.S. mail so that passenger planes could again carry it.

If the United States goes to war with Iraq, the measure would reopen the $10 billion loan-guarantee program and provide up to $3 billion in credit guarantees to offset higher fuel costs.

The Senate Commerce Committee already has passed a provision for extending assistance for terrorism insurance. But with other issues pressing, it's far from certain lawmakers will get any airline legislation to President Bush before the fall adjournment.

Last year, in the weeks after the terrorist attacks, Congress gave the airlines $5 billion in cash and $10 billion in loan guarantees.

Mullin, as he did in the House last week, told the Senate committee that airlines need more help because they have had to absorb roughly $4 billion in new security costs.

"No other private sector has been asked to finance national security costs."

Mullin has lobbied for not only the aid in the House legislation but also suspension of the security ticket tax of up to $10 per round trip.

Most lawmakers expressed sympathy for airlines, but Sen. Peter G. Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) harshly criticized them.

"Instead of asking for a check, like they did last year, the airlines are subtly seeking to shift unspecified billions of their own operating costs to the taxpayers," he said.

LOAD-DATE: October 3, 2002