Standard airline fares and even the price of a cup of coffee probably won't go up to pay for a proposed new runway, says an official at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

        But individual passengers could be asked to pay as much as $4.50 a ticket in extra charges to help cover the almost $230 million project.

        That would keep the impact on travelers to a minimum, said airport finance director Sheila Hammons, who said that without the extra charge, the airport would probably be forced to charge airlines and restaurants more to use the airport — which in turn would probably raise prices.

        “We're not going to raise landing fees just because of this, and we're not going to charge concessionaires more,” said Ms. Hammons. “We have other means at our disposal.”

        Airport officials are in the final stages of applying for Federal Aviation Administration approval for the runway, which they hope to open by 2005.

        The new 8,000-foot north-south runway and a 2,000-foot extension of the current east-west runway are needed to minimize delays, increase landing capacity and possibly attract a new low-cost carrier, officials say.

        Final approval for the projects could come by the end of the year, which would be good news for airport officials seeking federal funding.

        The airport applied in March for the maximum amount of federal funding for the project — 75 percent, or about $171 million.

        The FAA won't approve the funding until the project is approved, but if it does pass muster by Dec. 31, the airport would be in line to start receiving money for construction as early as next year.

        Rusty Chapman, acting director of the FAA's southern region airports division, said the airport probably won't get the full 75 percent.

        That's because the local airport, 16th busiest in the United States, will have a lot of competition for federal runway money. Last week, the FAA said a lack of runway capacity was a major cause of the air-delay epidemic.

        Fourteen of the nation's largest 31 airports, including Cincinnati, are planning new runways in the next 10 years. Overall, 28 projects are either under construction or otherwise in the works nationwide.

        “Compared to some of the other projects we're seeing, Cincinnati's is relatively inexpensive,” Mr. Chapman said. “But they're still going to look at a full range of funding. It would be very difficult for us to give that much money to this project. We're probably looking at $75 million to $100 million total.”

        That leaves the passenger facilities charge, a tool local airports can use to raise money for capital improvements — with federal approval.

        The charge should be familiar to local travelers. A $3 charge was placed on all Cincinnati tickets between June 1994 and August 2000 to help pay for soundproofing and land buyouts necessitated by the airport's second north-south runway, which opened in 1991.

        That same $3 charge goes back into effect June 1 through next year to help pay for the last phase of the sound project.

        Airports can charge up to $4.50 a ticket for as long as it takes to raise the needed and approved amount.

        Other options would be for the airport to raise the fees it charges airlines to use the runways, raise the rent charged concessionaires, or parking fees. The top two revenue sources for the airport are parking fees at $1.4 million a month and landing fees at about $1.3 million monthly.

        But Ms. Hammons said her preliminary runway funding plans call for federal funding and PFCs only — an option that did not exist in 1988 when the airport sought funding for the last runway to be built.

        “We really don't have a formal plan, but that's our thinking,” Ms. Hammons said. “We want to have as little impact financially on the traveling public as possible.”

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