President Barack Obama's proposed fiscal year 2012 budget calls for a $1.1 billion reduction in grants to large and medium airports but would allow airports "to increase non-Federal passenger facility charges."

PFCs currently are capped at $4.50 per ticket and Congress has considered raising that to $7 as part of a long overdue Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization. The proposed budget allocates a total of $128 billion for the Department of Transportation, including $1.24 billion for FAA's NextGen air traffic control system. It also includes $8 billion for high-speed raildevelopment, representing the first installment of a six-year, $53 billion plan.