Definition
A fee, authorized by the FAA and collected by airlines from passengers boarding at participating commercial airports, used by those airports to fund FAA-approved capital improvement projects such as runway upgrades, terminal expansion, noise mitigation, and safety or security enhancements.
Plain English
A small fee added to an airline ticket for each passenger that helps pay for improvements at the airports they fly through.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA acronym lists, airport planning or finance material, and sometimes in airline ticket or fare breakdowns.
Why Pilots Care
Most pilots will not deal with PFCs directly, but understanding the term helps when reading about how airports fund the runways, taxiways, and facilities pilots use every day.
Intuition Check
PFC is not an aircraft system or pilot procedure in this context. It is an airport fee connected to airline passengers and approved airport projects.
Example Sentence 1
The airport used revenue from the passenger facility charge to extend its main runway and upgrade the terminal lighting.
Example Sentence 2
Airports collect the PFC from passengers to pay for runway and taxiway upgrades.