Airlines yesterday urged Congress to consider several tax relief measures that would go into effect if the U.S. goes to war with Iraq and continue for up to a full year after the conflict ends.

The day after releasing a report saying the industry has lost $18 billion since the Sept. 11 attacks and incurred $100 billion in debt, Air Transport Association CEO James May told the House Transportation aviation subcommittee that Congress could suspend some of the taxes paid into the aviation trust fund. Airline traffic fell 20% when the U.S. went to a Code Orange terrorism alert and has not returned since the alert was reduced a step to Code Yellow.

Responding to airlines' fears that an Iraq war will mean a fuel-price spike that could drive more airlines into bankruptcy, subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said he has introduced a bill, H.R. 1221, to control gas prices in the event of war. It would let the White House stabilize prices and draw from the strategic petroleum reserve, a move that May, Air Line Pilots Association President Duane Woerth, and Deborah McElroy, Regional Airline Association president, testified they favor.

It would also "authorize the secretary of energy to establish minimum inventory levels, ban the export of oil produced in Alaska, and strongly urge the President to challenge at the WTO [World Trade Organization] OPEC's [Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries] use of oil production quotas," he said.