The Gallatin Airport Authority intends to file an application with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to impose and use Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs) for construction and consultant inspection costs of the terminal expansion project identified in the 2008 Master Plan Update at Gallatin Field Airport, Belgrade, Montana.
Background
The Gallatin Airport Authority owns and operates Gallatin Field Airport, the air carrier airport serving the City of Bozeman, Gallatin County and Yellowstone National Park. The airport also serves several ski areas and surrounding Counties of Madison, Jefferson, Broadwater and Park.
The airfield was constructed at its present day location in 1941 to provide a training school for pilots just prior to World War II. In anticipation of jet service a number of improvements were completed in the late 1960’s at Gallatin Field including the expansion of the main air carrier runway 12-30 to its present length of 9000 feet. The terminal building including related taxiways, aprons and roads were constructed in 1977.
The existing pavement surfaces of all runways, taxiways and aprons were rehabilitated as well as providing new facilities to meet the need for substantial growth at the airport from 1980 to 2009. Passenger enplanements at Gallatin Field have grown at a rate of approximately 7% per year compounded for the past thirty years. The Airport Authority has used PFC’s to complete two substantial expansion projects to the air carrier terminal building, to match AIP funding of the rehabilitation of the main air carrier runway 12-30 and its parallel taxiway, to pay for the preliminary engineering for the next terminal expansion, as well as replacing several pieces of snow removal equipment and updating the Master Plan.
The following paragraphs provide the information required under Section 158.23 of CFR Title 14 Part 158 for the notice to air carriers serving Gallatin Field Airport.
Section 158.23(1). Description of Project
The Gallatin Airport Authority will file an application with the FAA to impose and use PFC’s for the following projects:
Terminal Expansion Construction, Bonding Expense and
Interest, and Consultant Final Design and Inspection
The Airport Authority is taking steps to develop plans to expand the Airline Terminal to ultimately provide a facility capable of handling 1.4 million passengers per year with 12 to 14 contact gates. The Airline Terminal Planning Study was conducted under the Preliminary Design Phase to provide a phased plan for the expansion of the Terminal. The airport has hired a consultant to provide professional design services through design development to modify and expand the current Airline Terminal building to accommodate the initial terminal expansion phases. The Airport Authority is requesting input and approval of a PFC application in the amount of $29,000,000.00 to pay for a portion of the construction costs including bonding interest and expenses and consultant final design and inspection fees associated with the terminal expansion project. The estimated cost of the Terminal Expansion excluding bonding costs is $45,000,000.00. The project will be funded with FAA AIP funds, PFC funds and local airport revenue. A detailed financial plan and explanation will be provided at the consultation meeting.
Section 158.23 (2) The PFC Level, Effective Date, Expiration Date, and Total RevenuePFC Level: $4.50 per enplaned passenger at Gallatin Field Airport for all of the proposed projects. As per Section 158.3, enplaned passenger is defined as a domestic, territorial, or international revenue passenger enplaned in the United States on scheduled and nonscheduled service on aircraft in intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce. A revenue passenger is one who possesses an air travel ticket. An air travel ticket means all documents pertaining to a passenger’s complete itinerary necessary to transport a passenger by air, including passenger manifest.
Proposed Charge Effective Date: September 1, 2010Estimated Charge Expiration Date: September 1, 2028
Estimated Total PFC Revenue: $29,000,000.00 Section 158.23 (3) Request that a Class of Carrier not be Required to Collect PFC’s
Class Designation: Air Taxi/Commercial Operators (ATCO) filing
FAA Form 1800-31
Names of Known Carriers Belonging to Class Identified in this Section and Estimated Number of Annual Enplaned Passengers:
Schedule Type Carrier Calendar Year 2007 Enplanements
ATCO Global Aviation, Inc. 2
ATCO Jet Solutions LLC 92
ATCO Montana Aircraft, Inc. 140
ATCO Mountain Aviation, Inc. 1
ATCO R A Bridgeford, Inc. 14
ATCO World Class Aviation LLC 7
ATCO East Coast Flight Services, Inc. 6
ATCO Jet Ride, Inc. 6
Source: Federal Aviation Administration
Reasons for Requesting that Carriers Identified in this Section not Required to Collect the PFC. The number of passengers enplaned annually by this type of carrier represents about 0.08% of FBO’s operating on the airport, of the total enplanements at Gallatin Field Airport. The estimated revenue from these carriers over the next eighteen years that the PFC would be imposed would be about $21,750.00 as compared to the estimated revenue of $29,000,000.00 from all the other carriers. In accordance with Section 158.11 of CFR Title 14 Part 158, the Airport Authority may request of the FAA in its application to impose and use PFC’s that the PFC’s by any class of air carriers or foreign air carriers not be required if the number of enplaned passengers by the carriers in the class constitutes no more than 1% of the total passengers enplaned annually at the airport at which the PFC is imposed. This would be the case with the carriers identified herein.
Any public comment or request for additional information can be addressed to:
Mr. Ted Mathis, A.A.E.
Airport Director
850 Gallatin Field Road, Suite #6
Belgrade, MT 59714
(406) 388-6632
