HARLINGEN — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Thursday introduced a bill that would remove the designation of a user fee airport from Valley International Airport, potentially saving the facility as much as $600,000 annually.
Cruz, the ranking Republican on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said it would even the playing field for two airports which he believes are being assessed unfair costs.
The legislation would cover two airports, Valley International and Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York, both of which are within 30 miles of a border.
“I’m proud to reintroduce this legislation to ensure that our border airports receive the designation they deserve and to ensure they’re spared significant duplicative government costs,” Cruz said in a statement.
“As the Commerce Committee constructs the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill this Congress, I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance solutions that level the playing field for airports across the country,” he added.
Currently, user fee airports like VIA and Plattsburgh are the only two primary commercial service airports in close proximity to a U.S. border and land crossing that are not ports of entry and are not international or landing rights airports.
What that means is these airports are paying additional fees— $600,000 annually in VIA’s case — to staff the airport with Customs and Border Patrol agents.
“We’re been working diligently with our representatives in Washington, and hopefully, we can make a comment in the near future,” Marv Esterly, director of aviation at VIA, said Thursday.
VIA is the only primary commercial airport on the U.S.-Mexico border that has to pay the additional fees because it doesn’t qualify as a port of entry.
Both McAllen International Airport and Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport qualify as ports of entry and are not required to pay the user fee implemented under the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984.
