When the legislative session began in January hopes were sky high for the Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC), the quasi-public entity that controls Rhode Island’s airports. They wanted to change the name from T.F. Green to Rhode Island International Airport, as well as implement a jet fuel tax to help fund improvements to airport infrastructure.

Those dreams came crashing down Saturday night, after the General Assembly failed to act on either bill.

Strong opposition from the family of T.F. Green helped kill the airport renaming bill, while opposition from the airlines downed the jet fuel tax.

“Nobody’s pointing fingers anywhere,” said Linda Hughes, the newly-appointed director of marketing for the airport. “We’ll probably wait and try it again a little ways down the road. Moving forward will be business as usual, and the focus being on running a great airport.”

Name change stifled

The original airport renaming bill that RIAC proposed was passed by the Rhode Island House of Representatives, but the Senate passed an amended version of that bill. In the House version the airport was set to be renamed the Rhode Island International Airport, but the Senate version kept in the name T.F. Green, to make the name the Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport. When this revised Senate bill came to the House floor on Saturday night, the last day of the legislative session, the bill was recommitted, meaning it was sent back to committee for reconsideration. This effectively killed the bill until next year.

“The motion to recommit was the last night, [at] 11 or 12,” said Rep. Charlene Lima, Democrat for Providence and Cranston. “People were tired and this bill came up from the Senate side at the last minute so they recommitted.”

Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey, Democratic Senator from Warwick, was the lead sponsor of the Senate version of the bill.

“Senators and different constituents came to me to try and keep T.F. Green in the name,” said McCaffrey. “Myself and a number of my colleagues received different information as to the airport name.”

McCaffrey mentioned the fact that the true name of Baltimore-Washington International Airport is Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport, with the Thurgood Marshall part of the name not used for marketing purposes.

“I had a number of constituents call me, and T.F. Green II [the great nephew of Theodore Francis Green, for which the airport is named] came up to the State House and talked with a number of different Senators,” said McCaffrey. “He thought it was important that the name stay on the airport.”

T.F Green was a U.S. Senator and Governor of Rhode Island in the 1930s who helped found the State Airport, called Hillsgrove then.

“It came over from the Senate with T.F. Green’s name on the bill,” said House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi, Democratic Rep. from Warwick, and the lead sponsor of the House bill.

Rep. Lima had been against the airport renaming since the beginning, claiming that there was no economic benefit to a name change and that eliminating T.F. Green’s name would be disrespectful to history.

“There’s nothing in the seven letters, T.F. Green, to discredit people from coming here,” she said.

Bill Fischer, spokesman for RIAC, claimed that “we will dust ourselves off” and that “we will revisit these bills again next year.” He said, “often times you can find yourselves in a situation where you have different versions of the bills in the House and Senate side. No negativity on our end. These things happen.”

RIAC had been lobbying for the bill since the winter, when they approached legislators about the name change attempt. RIAC claimed that the current name, T.F. Green, did not have enough name recognition for travelers from distant destinations.

“We thought these name changes would benefit the airport and the local community,” said Hughes. “We’ll decide [to try] again when the time is right.”

On the other hand, Lima said that “they might try and [pass the bill next year] but I think the flavor in the general assembly is soured. People are concerned about it now.”

“We worry about next year, next year,” said Shekarchi, mentioning that no one’s reelection is guaranteed, let alone a position on a bill a year in advance.

Jet fuel tax grounded as well

The attempted name change of T.F. Green airport wasn’t the only RIAC bill that crashed and burned at the end of the session. Aside from changing the name, RIAC was also trying to get state approval to levy a 7 percent tax on all jet fuel bought at the airport. In an April hearing at the State House Iftikhar Ahmad, the president and CEO of RIAC, claimed that the tax money would go towards a general airport fund that could help pay for infrastructure improvements, such as strengthening taxiways to support larger planes.

Regardless of how the money would be used, the airline industry was highly opposed to the plan.

“A number of airlines came in with concerns about the jet fuel bill,” said McCaffery. “They really hadn’t been in contact with RIAC at the time to properly discuss the issue.”

McCaffery mentioned that a number of individual airlines, as well as a national lobbying organization, Airlines for America, came to the State House to provide testimony against the bill, claiming that it would increase operating costs, passenger fares, and possibly even reduce the number of routes from the airport.

“States all over the country are decreasing their taxes, not increasing them,” said Lima about the proposed jet fuel tax. She mentioned that Rhode Island would’ve gone from 5th best to 6th worst in terms of airline operating fees if the tax had been passed.

Now what for RIAC?

With the airport’s two major legislative objectives foiled, it begs the questions, how will RIAC move forward with budget and marketing plans for the coming year? A large part of the reason for changing the airport name was to improve marketability, and the jet fuel tax was supposed to help pay for infrastructure improvements.

“We’re not making any marketing decisions today,” said Fischer, RIAC spokesman. “And our budgets are sound, we’re in good shape financially.”

“Marketing is something we’re going to do regardless,” said Hughes. “That’ll be a big focus for us.”

However, for some the forecast for the airport’s future is not as sunny.

“I’m going to change the name of RIAC to the Rhode Island Arrogance Corporation,” said Lima on WPRO on Wednesday, voicing her anger with what she sees as an over-the-top and shadowy RIAC. “These people are painting a beautiful picture but what’s going on behind the scenes?”

She claims that she wants to start an investigation into RIAC and their business practices soon.