U.S. Airlines Seek $600 Million in Jet-fuel Tax Relief

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With jet fuel prices soaring in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, U.S. airlines have asked Congress and the White House for $600 million (euro483 million) in tax relief.

Commercial airlines, which have been battered, and in some cases bankrupted, by high energy costs are seeking a one-year reprieve from the 4.3-cents-per-gallon (1.13-cents-per-liter) federal tax on jet fuel.

''We've discussed it with the Department of Transportation and folks on the Hill,'' said Jack Evans, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, a Washington-based trade group. ''I think, so far, people have been receptive.''

The group's president, James May, will formally present the proposal at a Senate hearing scheduled for next Wednesday, Evans said.

U.S. airlines have lost more than $30 billion (euro24 billion) over the past four years, partly because of competition from low-cost carriers and the economic downturn, but also because of high energy costs.

The average spot price of jet fuel is now about $2.12 a gallon (56 cents a liter) in New York, up from $1.27 (33 cents) a year ago. Prices have been rising all year, but they took a big jump after Katrina, which shut down pipelines and refineries and caused supplies to tighten.