As U.S. airlines cheer him on, President George W. Bush is heading toward a confrontation with air-traffic controllers over wages, the same issue that triggered a 1981 strike in which thousands were fired.
Carriers such as Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., already buffeted by high fuel costs and stiff price competition, may see their $16 billion annual tax burden increase if Bush fails to get controller costs in line.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the controllers are at odds over the government’s attempt in contract talks to freeze base pay for current controllers and lower it for new hires.
The airlines say their rising tax burden in recent years has added to their already-formidable problems and that they can’t pass any added costs on to passengers because customers won’t accept fare increases large enough to cover them.
“We’re 100 percent behind the administration’s efforts to get the costs in line, and that has to be addressed in this negotiation process,” said John Meenan, executive vice president of the Air Transport Association, a Washington lobbying group for major airlines.
Increases in operations costs have “greatly increased pressure on the industry, and that’s continuing,” he said.
