Passengers Charged $7.50 : Airlines and County Spar Over Las Vegas Airport

There’s a certain ambiance to this city’s new airport terminal, where passengers ride in sleek, neon-streaked glass elevators and stroll past decorative steel palm trees en route to their planes.

But travelers are paying the price for the airport comforts--in the form of a $7.50 per person departure surcharge that has inflamed a battle between airlines and the county-owned airport while threatening to set a precedent at other airports across the country.

“It may make a big difference in how air fares are structured in the future,” said John Solomon, who until recently was director of McCarran International Airport. “If they can do it and go unchallenged here, they can do it in other locations as well.”

Airport Officials Angry

Airport officials are angered at the decision of six airlines to add the surcharge onto their portion of the 5 million passengers who depart the airport each year. They contend the Las Vegas airport has been singled out to become a highly publicized test case for extra fares.

But the airlines defend the fee as necessary to make a profit at a terminal they claim could have been built for far less money.

“We didn’t ask them to build a Taj Mahal,” said Al Becker, a spokesman for American Airlines. “The $7.50 is realistic. What is exorbitant is the amount of money the county invested in this airport.”

Becker said the hike in landing fees and rent charged in the terminal will add $2.8 million to American’s operating costs during the first year the airline occupies its new quarters.

‘No Other Recourse’

“We simply must run our business on a sound, cost-recovery basis,” he said. “We feel we have no other recourse than to use a surcharge.”

Clark County spent $280 million, mostly raised from the sale of bonds, to build the terminal, which includes a parking garage and is linked to the existing terminal at the country’s 22nd busiest airport.

The facility opened last October with a gala party featuring entertainer Wayne Newton and other celebrities--and was hit a day later with a lawsuit from 13 airlines who challenged the new terminal fees as excessive and discriminatory.

It was partly that suit, which is still in its preliminary stages, and the battle over the departure fee that prompted county commissioners to ask for Solomon’s resignation after eight years as airport director.

Airlines Criticized

Before his departure, though, Solomon blasted the surcharge as an effort by airlines to jack up profits and part of an attempt to wrest concessions from the county.

“If they wanted to, they could have an across-the-board fare increase and not a surcharge,” said Solomon. “Instead, they put on a surcharge to make it seem like we’re the bad guys.”

The surcharge is not completely unique among airports in the United States. Airlines serving Boston’s Logan Airport and airports in Florida add on fuel tax surcharges up to $2.50 a passenger.

But Solomon said the McCarran situation is different because airlines are imposing a flat surcharge because of airport charges instead of factoring the extra costs into tickets.

Old and New Compared

“We wonder if the carriers are going to start imposing surcharges at every airport they do not agree with on fees,” he said.

Solomon said airline landing fees went to $1.15 per 1,000 pounds from 70 cents with the new terminal and rental rates went from $85 to $117 a square foot a year.

“What that equates to is $4.05 a passenger including space rental and landing fees,” he said. “That’s an increase from $3.37 a passenger. I don’t see how they can charge $7.50 to make up for a 68-cent increase.”

But Kirk Holmes, Las Vegas manager for Continental Airlines, said Continental’s costs have gone up dramatically. Although the carrier has a much larger baggage and ticketing area in the new terminal, he said rental costs went from $3,500 a month to about $90,000 monthly.

“I’m sure some will question it, but I’m not sure most will even realize it,” he said of the charge. “If a passenger pays $100 on the way in, he’ll pay $107.50 on the way out.”