A proposed state takeover of the city of Atlanta’s airport had seemed stalled in the Georgia House of Representatives after passing the Senate. But the proposal came roaring back to life Wednesday when, in a Senate subcommittee, it was added onto a different bill, HB 447, that extends a jet fuel tax break.
Delta Airlines’ chief executive has been vocally opposed to the airport takeover idea, but he’s supported a jet fuel tax break. This new bill shoves both ideas together, with some tweaks.
A spokesman for Delta said the company does not support this new bill: “By doubling the tax rate that airlines pay in the State of Georgia and making Georgia the highest jet fuel tax state in the country among States with hub airports, it would make the state less competitive and give commercial aviation reason to grow somewhere other than the state of Georgia.”
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