Airlines Balk at Tax Proposal
Deficit-Reduction Plan Would Add New Departure and Security Fees for Carriers

Airlines are expressing alarm over an Obama administration proposal to help cut the federal deficit by imposing a new tax on aviation and raising another.

Carriers, airline labor unions, private pilots, corporate-jet builders and other groups are lobbying hard to make the case to Congress that their industry is being unfairly singled out.

Richard Anderson, chief executive of Delta Air Lines Inc. said "The airline industry is an easy target, perhaps there's a sense in Washington that wealthy people fly. But over the past 20 to 30 years, flying in the U.S. has been a very middle-class activity."