22 airlines owe back security fees

Southwest Airlines Co., American Airlines and 20 other carriers must pay the U.S. government $219 million in back security fees covering more than two years, a federal agency said Thursday.

Southwest owes the most, $54 million, followed by AMR Corp.’s American at $40 million and Delta Air Lines Inc. at $32 million, Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ellen Howe said. The carriers will face penalties if they don’t pay or arrange to do so in 30 days, she said.

The TSA’s decision to seek the $219 million caps an 18-month dispute with the airlines, which are trying to curb security costs that they say should be borne by the government.

The agency wants to limit its reliance on U.S. Treasury revenue.

“Our members intend to challenge TSA’s action,” said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Assn., a trade group in Washington.

“We will pursue all appropriate actions including review by the courts.”

The 22 carriers had appealed the fees in January 2006 as unfair and excessive. The TSA denied the appeals and last week told carriers they needed to pay the fees, which cover the period from January 2005 through March, Howe said.

The security agency created the fees after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to help pay for screening passengers and bags. The fees are supposed to be based on the airlines’ screening costs in 2000, before the government took over responsibility for airport security.

Airlines have said their 2000 costs were about $300 million, so they have been paying about that amount. The TSA has estimated that carriers spent $448 million on security in 2000, and it says the payments should be based on that figure.

US Airways Group Inc. owes $18 million; UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, $15 million; Continental Airlines Inc., $14 million; Northwest Airlines Corp., $9 million; and America West Airlines, now part of US Airways, $8 million, Howe said.

She said the other carriers owed $5 million or less.

Carriers including Southwest, American and US Airways said they were considering how to respond to the agency’s decision.

“We believe it is time for the TSA to develop a new system for allocating these costs, which is based on 2000 market shares,” said Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, the world’s largest airline.

“This old system is fundamentally unfair.”

Airlines also last year paid a separate, larger security fee of about $2 billion assessed on passenger tickets. That larger fee isn’t in dispute.