The mood is mixed.

For airports, one concern is who is going to pay for the in-line baggage screening systems that are mandated and ultimately needed; yet, Congress (the 800-pound guerilla behind all of this) and the Bush Administration seem to be turning a blind eye when it comes to actually funding what they say they want.

Then there’s capacity and the return of congestion. Airports want more freedom to operate as businesses, to be allowed to operate as their markets demand to meet local capacity needs, but they feel constrained by the feds.

There’s the issue of access to airports. More and more, airports are arguing that market forces such as peak period pricing need to become a reality so that the system can be better regulated based on demand and on how many people are sitting in that aircraft. This is a sticky issue.

Airports want to get the best utilization out of their facilities. Yet, business and general aviation argue that they have a right to equal (read: no peak period pricing) access. Historically, FAA has supported bizav and GA on this; it’s changing as we speak.

Then there’s the TSA. They say they want to communicate; then they don’t. They say we need to screen, daily, all workers who come onto secure areas on airports, but airports think background checks should be enough. There’s a conflict here.