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093296 1 (1972-08-23)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacxdj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON REGIONAL OFFICE Uo FIFTH FLOOR 803 WEST BROAD STREET FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA 22046 August 23, 1972 Mi. R. Dan Mahaney A Manager, National Capital Airports Dj Hanger 9, Washington National Airport Washington, D.C. 20001 Dear Mr. Mahaney: As you know, our office recently completed a survey of motor vehicle operations at Dulles International Airport (Dulles), Chantilly, Virginia. We concentrated on the utilization and maintenance of those motor vehicles known as mobile lounges and plane mates (hereafter referred to as passenger vehicles) which are used at Dulles to transport passengers between the airport terminal and aircraft. Each passenger vehicle carries more than 100 passengers, costs about $250,000 to purchase, and incurs operation and maintenance costs (including depreciation) of about $80,000 a year. During our survey we saw an opportunity to reduce the operation and maintenance costs of these vehicles and discussed our observations in a meeting with Mr. Dexter P. Davis, Chief, Operations and Safety Division, Dulles, Mr. John Kerr, Chief, Engineering and Maintenance Division, Dulles, and other officials. During that meeting, we were advised that a study would be undertaken by Dulles relating to this matter. We are summarizing the results of our work for your information. Dulles currently has a working inventory of 33 passenger vehicles. The first 21 vehicles, mobile lounges, were bought during the period 1961 through 1963 for about $4.9 million--or about $234,000 per unit. The other 12 vehicles, plane mates, were bought during fiscal years 1971 and 1972 for about $3.08 million--or about $257,000 per unit. Although airlines are charged for using these passenger vehicles, we found that the usage fee covers less than one-third of the cost of operating the vehicles and that Dulles is incurring a loss from this service of about $1 million a year. Usage fees are fixed by contract and cannot be increased until the contracts are renewed, therefore, the current loss from this ser- vice can be reduced only through a reduction of the operation and maintenance costs of these vehicles One way of accomplishing this is by currently main- taining the minimum number of passenger vehicles needed to effectively per- form the passenger carrying services at the airport.