CHARLOTTE — A plan to transfer control of Charlotte Douglas International Airport from the city to an independent board has cleared another hurdle.
The North Carolina House Transportation Committee on Tuesday approved a bill to hand management of US Airways’ top hub to an authority made up of appointees.
But Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx and the city council have been fighting the move for months. They say the bill is uncalled for because the city has done a good job of running the airport for more than 70 years.
During Tuesday’s House transportation committee meeting, several lawmakers agreed and criticized the bill.
Democratic Rep. Rodney Moore of Charlotte called it a “takeover.”
Fellow Democratic Rep. Becky Carney urged more time to study the issue because it will have a big impact on North Carolina’s largest city.
“I’m frustrated. I want to be able to support a strong sound business move with an authority in Charlotte if that is the way that both our state and city leaders want to go,” she said.
But she said there are still unresolved issues, including what happens to the 200 city employees who work at the airport.
“What are the unintended consequences as we move forward?” she said.
But one of the bill’s supporters, Rep. William Brawley, R-Mecklenburg, said they tried to work with Charlotte leaders to address some of those issues.
“Right now we are at a point where there is an impasse. Negotiations have pretty well stopped,” he said.
He said it was time to move forward to protect the airport’s future.
The House bill now heads to the finance committee.
The Senate already passed its version of the bill.
If the full House passes the bill, differences with the Senate bill will have to be worked out. Right now, the Senate bill calls for a 13-member board made up of appointees from Charlotte, five surrounding counties, the state legislature and the governor. The House measures would appoint 11 members.
In February, Republican state Sen. Bob Rucho introduced a bill calling for the city to cede control of the airport in favor of an authority.
Charlotte leaders, including Foxx, who is President Barack Obama’s nominee for transportation secretary, pushed back against the plan.
The city hired a consulting company to examine the issue. The consultant’s report said an independent airport authority would be the best way to continue the airport’s success. Charlotte Douglas passenger costs are among the lowest in the nation.
Charlotte City Manager Ron Carlee told the House committee Tuesday that while the report said an authority was likely the best “governance structure in the future,” it also said the “Charlotte airport was the most unlikely city-operated airport for consideration for an authority.”
Chuck Allen, US Airways director of community relations in Charlotte, said the company was taking “no sides in this debate.”
“Our issue is the continued management philosophy of the airport. It is the lowest cost airport because of the management philosophy, and that’s what we want to see continue,” he said.
After the vote, Brawley said the bill was aimed at keeping the airport operating at a high level in the future. He said he was concerned that the city was going to convert airport revenue to the general fund. That would threaten the airport’s low costs, he said.
“It’s simply the city of Charlotte has demonstrated a willingness to look for ways to convert airport revenue to general revenue for other things, and they add costs,” Brawley said. “They don’t understand. The airport is not the asset. The hub is the asset. The most important thing inside that fence is not that beautiful building. It’s 700 flights a day coming in and out of Charlotte, and anything that makes it harder for an airport to do that and prosper is a mistake.”
———

Christopher Kardish contributed to the story from Raleigh