783
Federal Aviation Administration, DOT
§ 158.49
§ 158.47 Collection of PFC’s on tickets
issued outside the U.S.
(a) For tickets issued outside the
U.S., an air carrier or foreign air car-
rier may follow the requirements of ei-
ther § 158.45 or this section, unless the
itinerary is for travel wholly within
the U.S. Air carriers and foreign air
carriers must comply with § 158.45
where the itinerary is for travel wholly
within the U.S. regardless of where the
ticket is issued.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provi-
sions of this part, no foreign airline is
required to collect a PFC on air travel
tickets issued on its own ticket stock
unless it serves a point or points in the
U.S.
(c) If an air carrier or foreign air car-
rier elects not to comply with § 158.45
for tickets issued outside the U.S.—
(1) The carrier is required to collect
PFC’s on such tickets only for the pub-
lic agency controlling the last airport
at which the passenger is enplaned
prior to departure from the U.S.
(2) The carrier may collect the PFC
either at the time the ticket is issued
or at the time the passenger is last en-
planed prior to departure from the U.S.
The carrier may vary the method of
collection among its flights.
(3) The carrier shall provide a written
record to the passenger that a PFC has
been collected. Such a record shall ap-
pear on or with the air travel ticket
and shall include the same information
as required by § 158.45(b), but need not
be preprinted on the ticket stock.
(4) Issuing carriers and their agents
shall collect PFCs based on the
itinerary at the time of issuance.
(i) Any change in itinerary initiated
by a passenger that requires an adjust-
ment to the amount paid by the pas-
senger is subject to collection or refund
of the PFC as appropriate.
(ii) Failure to travel on a nonrefund-
able or expired ticket is not a change
in itinerary. If the ticket purchaser is
not permitted any fare refund on the
unused ticket, the ticket purchaser is
not permitted a refund of any PFC as-
sociated with that ticket.
(d) With respect to a flight on which
the air carrier or foreign air carrier
chooses to collect the PFC at the time
the air travel ticket is issued—
(1) The carrier and its agents shall
collect the required PFC on tickets
issued on or after the charge effective
date.
(2) The carrier is not required to col-
lect PFC’s at the time of enplanement
for tickets sold by other air carriers or
foreign air carriers or their agents.
(e) With respect to a flight on which
the air carrier or foreign air carrier
chooses to collect the PFC at the time
of enplanement, the carrier shall exam-
ine the air travel ticket of each pas-
senger enplaning at the airport on and
after the charge effective date and
shall collect the PFC from any pas-
senger whose air travel ticket does not
include a written record indicating
that the PFC was collected at the time
of issuance.
(f) Collected PFC’s shall be distrib-
uted as noted on the written record
provided to the passenger.
(g) Collecting carriers shall be re-
sponsible for all funds from time of col-
lection to remittance.
(h) Collecting carriers and their
agents shall stop collecting the PFC on
the charge expiration date stated in a
notice from the public agency, or as re-
quired by the Administrator.
[Doc. No. 26385, 56 FR 24278, May 29, 1991; 56
FR 37127, Aug. 2, 1991; Amdt. 158–4, 72 FR
28849, May 23, 2007]
§ 158.49 Handling of PFC’s.
(a) Collecting carriers shall establish
and maintain a financial management
system to account for PFC’s in accord-
ance with the Department of Transpor-
tation’s Uniform System of Accounts
and Reports (14 CFR part 241). For car-
riers not subject to 14 CFR part 241,
such carriers shall establish and main-
tain an accounts payable system to
handle PFC revenue with subaccounts
for each public agency to which such
carrier remits PFC revenue.
(b) Collecting carriers must account
for PFC revenue separately. PFC rev-
enue may be commingled with the air
carrier’s other sources of revenue ex-
cept for covered air carriers discussed
in paragraph (c) of this section. PFC
revenues held by an air carrier or an
agent of the air carrier after collection
are held in trust for the beneficial in-
terest of the public agency imposing
the PFC. Such air carrier or agent
784
14 CFR Ch. I (1–1–24 Edition)
§ 158.49
holds neither legal nor equitable inter-
est in the PFC revenues except for any
handling fee or interest collected on
unremitted proceeds as authorized in
§ 158.53.
(c)(1) A covered air carrier must seg-
regate PFC revenue in a designated
separate PFC account. Regardless of
the amount of PFC revenue in the cov-
ered air carrier’s account at the time
the bankruptcy petition is filed, the
covered air carrier must deposit into
the separate PFC account an amount
equal to the average monthly liability
for PFCs collected under this section
by such air carrier or any of its agents.
(i) The covered air carrier is required
to create one PFC account to cover all
PFC revenue it collects. The des-
ignated PFC account is solely for PFC
transactions and the covered air car-
rier must make all PFC transactions
from that PFC account. The covered
air carrier is not required to create
separate PFC accounts for each airport
where a PFC is imposed.
(ii) The covered air carrier must
transfer PFCs from its general ac-
counts into the separate PFC account
in an amount equal to the average
monthly liability for PFCs as the ‘‘PFC
reserve.’’ The PFC reserve must equal
a one-month average of the sum of the
total PFCs collected by the covered air
carrier, net of any credits or handling
fees allowed by law, during the past 12-
month period of PFC collections imme-
diately before entering bankruptcy.
(iii) The minimum PFC reserve bal-
ance must never fall below the fixed
amount defined in paragraph (c)(1)(ii)
of this section.
(iv) A covered air carrier may con-
tinue to deposit the PFCs it collects
into its general operating accounts
combined with ticket sales revenue.
However, at least once every business
day, the covered air carrier must re-
move all PFC revenue (Daily PFC
amount) from those accounts and
transfer it to the new PFC account. An
estimate based on
1
⁄
30
of the PFC re-
serve balance is permitted in substi-
tution of the Daily PFC amount.
(A) In the event a covered air carrier
ceases operations while still owing PFC
remittances, the PFC reserve fund may
be used to make those remittances. If
there is any balance in the PFC reserve
fund after all PFC remittances are
made, that balance will be returned to
the covered air carrier’s general ac-
count.
(B) In the event a covered air carrier
emerges from bankruptcy protection
and ceases to be a covered air carrier,
any balance remaining in the PFC re-
serve fund after any outstanding PFC
obligations are met will be returned to
the air carrier’s general account.
(v) If the covered air carrier uses an
estimate rather than the daily PFC
amount, the covered air carrier shall
reconcile the estimated amount with
the actual amount of PFCs collected
for the prior month (Actual Monthly
PFCs). This reconciliation must take
place no later than the 20th day of the
month (or the next business day if the
date is not a business day). In the
event the Actual Monthly PFCs are
greater than the aggregate estimated
PFC amount, the covered air carrier
will, within one business day of the
reconciliation, deposit the difference
into the PFC account. If the Actual
Monthly PFCs are less than the aggre-
gate estimated PFC amount, the cov-
ered air carrier will be entitled to a
credit in the amount of the difference
to be applied to the daily PFC amount
due.
(vi) The covered air carrier is per-
mitted to recalculate and reset the
PFC reserve and daily PFC amount on
each successive anniversary date of its
bankruptcy petition using the method-
ology described above.
(2) If a covered air carrier or its
agent fails to segregate PFC revenue in
violation of paragraph (c)(1) of this sec-
tion, the trust fund status of such rev-
enue shall not be defeated by an inabil-
ity of any party to identify and trace
the precise funds in the accounts of the
air carrier.
(3) A covered air carrier and its
agents may not grant to any third
party any security or other interest in
PFC revenue.
(4) A covered air carrier that fails to
comply with any requirement of para-
graph (c) of this section, or causes an
eligible public agency to spend funds to
recover or retain payment of PFC rev-
enue, must compensate that public
agency for those cost incurred to re-
cover the PFCs owed.
785
Federal Aviation Administration, DOT
§ 158.63
(5) The provisions of paragraph (b) of
this section that allow the commin-
gling of PFCs with other air carrier
revenue do not apply to a covered air
carrier.
(d) All collecting air carriers must
disclose the existence and amount of
PFC funds regarded as trust funds in
their financial statements.
[Doc. No. 26385, 56 FR 24278, May 29, 1991, as
amended by Amdt. 158–2, 65 FR 34542, May 30,
2000; Amdt. 158–4, 72 FR 28850, May 23, 2007]
§ 158.51 Remittance of PFC’s.
Passenger facility charges collected
by carriers shall be remitted to the
public agency on a monthly basis. PFC
revenue recorded in the accounting
system of the carrier, as set forth in
§ 158.49 of this part, shall be remitted to
the public agency no later than the
last day of the following calendar
month (or if that date falls on a week-
end or holiday, the first business day
thereafter).
§ 158.53 Collection compensation.
(a) As compensation for collecting,
handling, and remitting the PFC rev-
enue, the collecting air carrier is enti-
tled to:
(1) $0.11 of each PFC collected.
(2) Any interest or other investment
return earned on PFC revenue between
the time of collection and remittance
to the public agency.
(b) A covered air carrier that fails to
designate a separate PFC account is
prohibited from collecting interest on
the PFC revenue. Where a covered air
carrier maintains a separate PFC ac-
count in compliance with § 158.49(c), it
will receive the interest on PFC ac-
counts as described in paragraph (a)(2)
of this section.
(c)(1) Collecting air carriers may pro-
vide collection cost data periodically
to the FAA after the agency issues a
notice in the F
EDERAL
R
EGISTER
that
specifies the information and deadline
for filing the information. Submission
of the information is voluntary. The
requested information must include
data on interest earned by the air car-
riers on PFC revenue and air carrier
collection, handling, and remittance
costs in the following categories:
(i) Credit card fees;
(ii) Audit fees;
(iii) PFC disclosure fees;
(iv) Reservations costs;
(v) Passenger service costs;
(vi) Revenue accounting, data entry,
accounts payable, tax, and legal fees;
(vii) Corporate property department
costs;
(viii) Training for reservations
agents, ticket agents, and other de-
partments;
(ix) Ongoing carrier information sys-
tems costs;
(x) Ongoing computer reservations
systems costs; and
(xi) Airline Reporting Corporation
fees.
(2) The FAA may determine a new
compensation level based on an anal-
ysis of the data provided under para-
graph (c)(1) of this section, if the data
is submitted by carriers representing
at least 75 percent of PFCs collected
nationwide.
(3) Any new compensation level de-
termined by the FAA under paragraph
(c)(2) of this section will replace the
level identified in paragraph (a)(1) of
this section.
[Doc. No. FAA–2006–23730, 72 FR 28850, May
23, 2007; Amdt. 158–4, 72 FR 31714, June 8, 2007]
Subpart D—Reporting,
Recordkeeping and Audits
§ 158.61 General.
This subpart contains the require-
ments for reporting, recordkeeping and
auditing of accounts maintained by
collecting carriers and by public agen-
cies.
§ 158.63 Reporting requirements: Pub-
lic agency.
(a) The public agency must provide
quarterly reports to air carriers col-
lecting PFCs for the public agency
with a copy to the appropriate FAA
Airports Office. The quarterly report
must include:
(1) Actual PFC revenue received from
collecting air carriers, interest earned,
and project expenditures for the quar-
ter;
(2) Cumulative actual PFC revenue
received, interest earned, project ex-
penditures, and the amount committed
for use on currently approved projects,
including the quarter;