State officials are looking to start charging airlines for landing their planes at rural Alaska airports outside regular operating hours.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the Department of Transportation is working with airlines to create an overtime fee that could be implemented next year. Fairbanks International Airport and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport would not be affected by the change.
DOT Deputy Commissioner John Binder said Thursday state budget cuts have brought on the need to charge airlines that land outside an airport’s normal operating hours. He says the department’s general fund budget has been reduced by more than 20 percent during the past two years, and overtime at rural airports was one of the many cuts.
The proposed regulations are expected to be up for public comment in the first half of 2017.
