Phila. may limit gates controlled by US Airways Councilman Kenney hopes his planned ordinance will result in more competition and lower fares. By Marcia Gelbart Inquirer Staff Writer Hoping to draw more discount airlines and produce lower airfares, a city councilman will propose limits on the number of gates controlled by US Airways, which operates a hub at Philadelphia International Airport. Under an ordinance that Councilman James F. Kenney planned to introduce today, no single airline or its affiliates would be permitted "exclusive" or "preferential" use of more than 40 percent of the airport's gates. That would create more open gates that the airport could try to fill with other carriers, including low-fare airlines. The measure would force financially troubled US Airways Group Inc. to give up many gates it now uses. The airline, which is based in Arlington, Va., has exclusive or preferential use of 63 percent of the airport's 103 gates. US Airways and its affiliates flew 68 percent of the airport's passengers last year. A spokesman for the airline would not comment yesterday, saying he was unaware of the proposal. The provisions giving US Airways exclusive use of gates stem from a lease agreement approved by City Council in 1978. Those leases don't expire until 2006. But Kenney said he was introducing the bill now because airport leases might have to be renegotiated in the case of a US Airways bankruptcy. Council President Anna C. Verna has agreed to cosponsor the bill, along with Councilmen Michael Nutter and Frank DiCicco, an aide to Kenney said. "I want to see [US Airways] do well and to make it, but right now I'm more concerned about the lack of competitive [ticket] pricing at the airport," Kenney, a critic of the airport's operations, said yesterday. The airline has said it might file for bankruptcy protection if the federal government does not agree to back $900 million of a $1 billion private loan it is seeking. By operating a Philadelphia hub, US Airways provides the region with almost 6,000 jobs and travel advantages. Specifically, the airline offers nonstop flights to 102 cities in the United States and Canada, 8 in Europe, and 14 destinations in the Caribbean. But wary of its lack of low-fare carriers, the airport submitted to the federal government in 2000 what amounts to an action plan on how it would increase airline competition. Even so, Kenney said, officials of the city-owned airport have done little to stimulate competition. Discount airlines carry just 10 percent of all Philadelphia passengers, and have just six gates available to them, he said. That small degree of competition generally means higher fares. According to the U.S. Transportation Department, travelers here pay airfares 23 percent above average on routes of comparable distance and passenger volume nationwide. An airport spokeswoman, Phyllis Vanistendal, did not return a call yesterday. But Aviation Director Charles Isdell said previously that the airport was actively seeking additional discount carriers. Also, when gates come open, the airport says it no longer leases them exclusively to one airline. That will be the case for the 13 gates at the soon-to-open international terminal, as well as four gates apiece at Terminals D and E. Most new gates will be leased on a preferential-use basis, which entitles the city to require the leasing airline to share gates not being used. Also, at least four new gates in the international terminal will be common-use, putting them directly under the airport's control.