Call it "Mr. Lopano goes to Washington."

Tampa International Airport's chief executive officer met with President Trump this week at the White House.

  • White House hosted meeting of airline, airport executives
  • Meeting focused on improving experience of U.S. travelers
  • Follow-up meeting at the White House planned

TIA CEO Joe Lopano was one of a dozen airline and airport executives invited to meet with the president.

"i've been in the airport business a long time. I've never been invited to talk to the president about airport needs, said Lopano.  "So this is a really good step for us."

President Trump wanted input on how to cut through regulations, upgrade infrastructure and modernize airport service.   

"The discussion was really about how do we improve the experience for the American traveler," said Lopano.

Lopano agrees with the president that United States air service is falling behind its foreign competitors.

"You fly out of a beautiful airport in China and you arrive at any U.S. gateway and the experience is probably not as good as it was at the international point," said Lopano.  "So we have a lot of work to do."

One suggestion Lopano offered the president was to consider raising a fee that airports are allowed to charge per ticket, known as the Passenger Facility Fee. Currently that fee stands at $4.50.

It has not been raised in the past 16 years.  

Lopano believes increasing that fee by $2 or $3 would provide funding for airport modernization projects.

Lopano said at first President Trump was not open to the idea of a fee on passengers. Toward the end of the meeting, however, he signaled he would be willing to change his mind.  

Airline executives have been invited to a follow-up meeting at the White House. A date for that meeting has not yet been set.