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United Newark Liberty’s Largest Carrier files complaint against the Port Authority for excessive fees
Port Authority chairman calls United’s complaint on Newark Airport fees ‘inflammatory’
DECEMBER 16, 2014, 6:29 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2014, 10:30 PM
BY SHAWN BOBURG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
The chairman of the Port Authority fired back at Newark Liberty’s biggest carrier Tuesday, calling United Airlines’ recent complaint to federal regulators about the agency’s escalating airport fees “inflammatory” and “political.”
In unusually strong remarks, John Degnan, an appointee of Governor Christie, blamed United’s high fares out of Newark on its “monopoly” at the airport, alleging the airline stifles competition by not allowing other carriers to fill unused capacity that it controls.
Newark ranks sixth among all U.S. airports in its average round-trip fare, at $491.42, outstripping prices at New York’s two major airports by $75 or more, according to the latest federal data.
It was the latest in a series of broadsides involving the Christie administration, the Port Authority and United, and the first time that Degnan, who became chairman in July, has taken on such a high-profile target.
Earlier this year, the airline abruptly pulled out of Atlantic City’s airport after less than a year of flights in and out of the struggling resort town that Christie has been trying to revive. Last week United filed its complaint about airport fees to the Federal Aviation Administration, accusing the Port Authority of diverting money from the airports — including fees it charges United — to non-agency projects like repairs to the Pulaski Skyway, a New Jersey-owned road.
Degnan, a former New Jersey attorney general, called that a “cheap shot” Tuesday and said he was responding “in kind.”
