Airport Development Acceleration Act

Airport Development Acceleration Act - Expands the definition of 'airport development' under the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970 to include the following: (1) any work involved in constructing, improving, or repairing a public airport or portion thereof, including the construction, alteration, repair, or acquisition of airport passenger terminal buildings or facilities and other airport administrative buildings, and (2) the removal, lowering, relocation, marketing, and lighting of airport hazards, and (3) the acquisition, removal, improvement, or repair of navigation aids used by aircraft landing at, or taking off from, a public airport, and (4) the acquisition, improvement, or repair of safety equipment required by rule or regulation for certification of the airport under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, and security equipment required of the sponsor by rule or regulation of the Federal Aviation Administration for the safety and security of persons and property on the airport, and (5) any acquisition of land or of any interest in airspace, including land for future airport development, which is necessary to permit any such work or to remove or mitigate or prevent or limit the establishment of airport hazards.

Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make grants for airport development totaling $375,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1974 and 1975. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for the purpose of developing airports serving segments of aviation other than air carriers certificated by the Civil Aeronautics Board totaling $45,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1974 and 1975.

Increases the total obligational authority of the Secretary to make grants for airport development to $1,680,000,000. Provides that no such obligation shall be incurred for a period of more than three fiscal years. States that such obligations shall not be liquidated in an aggregate amount exceeding $1,260,000,000 prior to June 30, 1974, and an aggregate amount exceeding $1,680,000,000 prior to June 30, 1975.

Provides that the Federal share of allowable project costs incurred under the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970 shall be: (1) 50 percent for sponsors whose airports enplane not less that 0.25 percent of the total annual passengers enplaned by air carriers certificated by the Board; and (2) 75 percent for sponsors whose airports enplane less than 0.25 percent of such passengers. Provides that the Federal share of project costs related to the security of persons and property on the airport shall be 82 percent of the allowable costs.

States that such grant agreements must have been entered into after publication in the Federal Register of Notices of Proposed Rulemaking with respect to airport security. (Amends 49 U.S.C 1711, 1714 (a)(b), 1716 (c), 1717, 1720 (b)) (Adds 49 U.S.C. 1513)

Provides for an initial United States share of 100 percent of the costs of the acquisition of land for future airport development. States that the sponsor acquiring such land shall agree to reimburse the Secretary for all costs incurred in excess of those authorized. Provides that the Federal share of the project cost related to the construction, alteration, repair, or acquisition of passenger and baggage facilities shall be 50 percent of the allowable costs.

Provides that no State shall levy or collect a tax, fee, head charge, or other charge, directly or indirectly, on persons traveling in air transportation or on the carriage of persons in air transportation, or on the gross receipts derived therefrom.

Title II: Air Transportation Security Act - States the finding of Congress that the United States Government must establish and maintain an air transportation security program and an air transportation security law enforcement force under the direction of the Administrator of the Federal Avaiation Administration in order to adequately assure the safety of passengers in air transportation.

Provides that after June 30, 1973, no air carrier or foreign air carrier shall operate an aircraft in air transportation unless all passengers boarding that aircraft in the United States, and all such passenger's baggage brought aboard the aircraft, wherever stowed, shall have been inspected by means of a metal detection device or by an x-ray device immediately prior to boarding and have not been found to carry or contain an unauthorized explosive, device, or weapon of any kind.

Prescribes civil and criminal penalties for violations of the above provisions.

Authorizes to be appropriated from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund such amounts, not to exceed $5,500,000, to acquire the devices required by this Act.

Provides, under the Federal Aviation Act, that the Administrator in administering the air transportation security program shall establish and maintain an air transportation security force of sufficient size to provide a law enforcement presence and capability at airports in the United States adequate to insure the safety from criminal violence and air piracy of persons traveling in air transportation or intrastate air transportation.

Provides that the Administrator shall require any air carrier, intrastate air carrier, or foreign air carrier to refuse to transport: (1) any person who does not consent to a search of his person to determine whether he is unlawfully carrying a dangerous weapon, explosive, or other destructive substance; or (2) any property of any person who does not consent to a search or inspection of such property to determine whether it unlawfully contains a dangerous weapon, explosive, or other destructive substance.

Extends the criminal penalties for having a dangerous weapon on one's person while on board or while attempting to board an airplane, to having such a weapon in one's property and to attempting to place such a weapon aboard an aircraft. (Amends 49 U.S.C. 1472)

Authorizes to be appropriated $50,000,000 for fiscal year 1973, and such amounts as are necessary, not exceeding $50,000,000 for each succeeding fiscal year, to establish, administer, and maintain the air transportation security force.

Provides that whenever the President determines that a foreign nation is acting in a manner inconsistent with the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, he may: (1) suspend the right of any air carrier and foreign air carrier to engage in foreign air transportation, and any person to operate aircraft in foreign air commerce, to and from that foreign nation; and (2) suspend the right of any air carrier and foreign air carrier to engage in foreign air transportation and any person to operate aircraft in foreign air commerce, between the United States and any foreign nation which maintains air service between itself and that foreign nation.