Vail airport officials want United to pay airport fees in advance VAIL, Colo. (AP) =97 Eagle County officials are threatening to block United= =20 Airlines flights from operating out of the resort town's airport until the= =20 bankrupt airline pays its airport fees. Officials want the airline to pay=20 landing fees in advance since it used its bankruptcy protection to cancel=20 its 10-year lease at the airport, a move that stunned county and ski resort= =20 executives. The lease expired Wednesday. Executives from the airline were=20 expected in Vail on Thursday for lease negotiations. County officials had=20 said a check to cover United's charges for November bounced, but United=20 spokesman Chris Brathwaite said a $15,000 check to the county cleared last= =20 week. Eagle County administrator Jack Ingstad said the airport cannot stop= =20 a United airplane from landing at the airport. But after it lands, he said,= =20 "Those snowplows, they may get stuck behind the plane." "They file for=20 bankruptcy and there is no more trust," Ingstad said. Brathwaite responded: "There will be no snowplows parked behind those=20 planes because there is no reason to." United Express has five flights=20 between Denver and Vail during the winter. The flights are operated by Air= =20 Wisconsin under a contract with United. That airline has paid its landing= =20 fees, Brathwaite said. The disputed fees were from so-called passenger=20 facility charges collected by United through ticket sales from flights into= =20 Eagle County. Ingstad insists United will have to pay those fees up front.= =20 "There is no right for them to come in unless they tender us a check," he=20 said. The county is negotiating with Air Wisconsin on a new lease. A=20 worst-case scenario could mean the airline would lose its counter space and= =20 signs at the airport and pay a premium rate to use the terminal. Denver International Airport billed United $3.9 million for January's=20 projected landing fees because its contract requires any airline in=20 bankruptcy to pay up front. A bankruptcy court judge blocked the airport=20 from collecting the bill in advance, said DIA spokesman Chuck Cannon. But=20 United has paid the airport about $13 million for landing fees, building=20 rents and passenger-facility charges accrued before the airline's Dec. 9=20 Chapter 11 filing. "United is current on everything," Cannon said. Colorado Springs Airport officials said there are no plans to require the=20 airline to pay fees in advance. United pays the airport about $145,000 each= =20 month, said airport spokeswoman Erica Hupp. "As long as they continue to=20 keep up their payments, there is no problem," she said. "They have been=20 paying on time." *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.atlanticlng.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************