US Airlines Chiefs Ask Congress For Tax, Insurance Relief Thursday June 3, 1:07 PM EDT WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Executives from the nation's major airlines asked Congress Thursday to take over more security costs, keep their tax bills steady and renew a federal insurance program. As a whole the U.S. airline industry has lost more than $20 billion since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, although the losses were concentrated among large carriers such as United (UALAQ), Delta (DAL) and Contential (CAL). Many so- called low-cost carriers such as Southwest (LUV) made money. After 9/11 Congress approved legislation that provided financial assistance to the airline industry. But now the Bush administration is proposing that airline taxes and fees be increased to help fund the Transportation Security Administration. Gordon Bethune, the chief executive at Contential Airlines, told lawmakers on the House Aviation Subcommittee that he was "frustrated" that the industry is bearing a lot of the mandated security costs and argued that the federal government should pick up more of the tab in the interest of national security. Bethune and Richard H. Anderson, Northwest Airlines Inc.'s (NWAC) chief executive, said the industry has had trouble raising ticket prices to help pay for the additional costs. Anderson said the average tax and passenger fees on a $200 round trip ticket is more than $50. Most lawmakers on the panel, however, weren't overly sympathetic to the airlines' plight and suggested the only industry proposal that makes sense would be for the government to renew the war-risk insurance program. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the panel's chairman said the government was helping pay for additional security costs and "we are still taking quite a hit to the Treasury to subsidize these operations." Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., however, said he believed there still needed to be a "thoughtful" discussion over which security costs should be borne by the government and which cost should be borne by the airline industry. But he dismissed the notion that the government should foot the entire bill. "There's benefit to the airlines. Without that security you wouldn't be flying airplanes," he said. "People would not have come back to flying." Indeed, most airlines expect traffic to return to or exceed pre-9/11 levels this year. Until fuel prices hit record levels in recent weeks, many major carriers expected to break even or even turn a small profit. JayEtta Hecker of the General Accounting Office noted that even with all of the industry turmoil in recent years low-cost airlines are growing and are profitable. She noted that the large carriers' financial condition has deteriorated since 2000. And despite cost-cutting efforts the carriers' unit costs haven't declined - which gives the low-cost airlines a greater advantage. Gary Chase, an airline analyst at Lehman Brothers , said in written testimony that he expected low-cost airlines to continue to flourish - despite rising fuel costs - and for large carriers to continue struggling. "Despite successful efforts over the last several years to improve profitability, we believe the network airlines must act further to reduce cost and increase flexibility," Chase said. Roger EWROPS