Grassley Works for Competitive Air Service


? Sen. Chuck Grassley this week joined his colleagues Sens. John McCain, of Arizona, and Ernest Hollings, of South Carolina, to introduce bipartisan legislation to restore competitive air service.

The Aviation Competition Restoration Act would provide the Department of Transportation with expanded authority to review airline mergers and acquisitions, ensure a competitive air transportation system, and release funding for airport projects that facilitate new competition.

"As the airline industry becomes increasingly dominated by a few carriers, it's essential that consumers' interests are not overlooked by the government," Grassley said. "One way to do this is to give the DOT expanded authority to prohibit mergers if they find that they are anti-competitive and contrary to public interest."

The bill also calls for a review of airline access to gates and facilities at major U.S. airports, ensuring that carriers dominating hubs don't hoard and underutilize these facilities as an unfair method of competition. Another provision of the bill allows up to $300 million for airport projects that facilitate new competition.

"Adequate air service is critical to the economic development of rural communities. Competitive fares are necessary to keep residents, attract businesses and increase jobs," Grassley said. "We want to help airports fund projects that encourage competition."

The Aviation Competition Restoration Act would:

?provide expanded authority for the DOT to review proposed airline mergers and acquisitions in coordination with the Department of Justice and allow the DOT to prohibit such transactions if it finds that they are anti-competitive;
?allow the DOT to conduct a 90-day review of the 30 largest U.S. airports to determine the status of competitive access and the availability of gates, facilities and other critical assets and require the dominant carrier to make available these assets to other carriers if needed;
?provide up to $300 million in fiscal year 2002 for airport projects that facilitate new competition;
?require airports to provide proof that they are providing competitive access to carriers in order to obtain federal airport funding and approvals of applications for Passengers Facilities Charges.