Burbank Plans to Raise Fees for 11 Airlines

Commercial airline landing fees at Burbank Airport would be increased up to 42% to help offset expansion costs under a proposal being reviewed by the 11 airlines that land there.

Victor Gill, spokesman for Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, said Thursday the proposed increase would be negotiated between the authority and airlines sometime in January.

The amount now under discussion is 92 cents per 1,000 pounds, said airport operations manager Mark McBee, up from 52 cents, which he said is among the lowest in Southern California.

“Landing fees are established to cover expenses, and our expenses are lower than most everybody else’s,” McBee said. “The total space out here just is not a lot compared to other airports.”

Airlines Resisted

Airlines first learned that fees might increase in May, when they were asked to consider a 10-cent rise. However, Gill said the airlines “resisted at that point . . . arguing that they hadn’t had time to adjust their planning to reflect a landing-fee increase. We told them OK, but we’d be back later in the year.”

A December meeting to discuss the 40-cent rise prompted a more favorable response, McBee said.

Lou Cancelmi, spokesman for Alaska Airlines--the airport’s largest carrier--said his company had not yet decided whether to back the fee increase.

“Obviously, every time costs are increased it’s a matter of some concern,” Cancelmi said. “But we’re sympathetic to this increase. We understand some of the reasons for it.”

Airlines that fly from Burbank Airport have some say in budget decisions because they backed the nearly $14.5 million in bonds the airport has sold.

In the 1987-88 fiscal year, landing fees brought in $1.7 million, nearly 12% of the airport’s $14.5 million in total operating revenue. The proposed increase could raise an additional $1 million. Other funding sources are parking fees, concessions, hangar rentals and government grants.

Gill said the money gained from higher fees would be used to buy 19 acres next to the airport, which is occupied by Lockheed Corp.

Three acres will be used for a new airport tower that the Federal Aviation Administration has agreed to build within the next 2 years. There is no scheduled use for the remaining land, Gill said, but a new terminal, a fuel farm and more hangars for private planes are on the airport’s wish list.

Van Nuys Airport has no landing fees because commercial airlines do not fly there. But because it is one of the four Los Angeles-owned airports, Van Nuys benefits from the landing fees paid by airlines to Los Angeles International Airport, which is 70 cents per 1,000 pounds.