Before NEWMAN, MAYER, and SCHALL, Circuit Judges.
Huntleigh USA Corporation (“Huntleigh”) is a corporation in the business of providing passenger and baggage screening services at airports throughout the United States. During the period between 1989 and early 2002, airlines contracted with Huntleigh in order to meet their responsibilities for passenger and baggage screening under the Air Transportation Security Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-366, 88 Stat. 415 (1974) (“Air Transportation Security Act”) (repealed 1994). Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress enacted, and the President signed into law, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, Pub. L. No. 107-171, 115 Stat. 597 (2001) (codified in scattered sections of 5 U.S.C. and 49 U.S.C.)(“ATSA”). Two of ATSA’s provisions are pertinent to this appeal. The first provision, section 101(g)(1), 49 U.S.C. § 44901 (note) (Supp. I 2001), provided that the Under Secretary of Transportation for Security was to assume all security and screening functions at United States airports. The second provision, section 101(g)(2), id., provided that the Under Secretary of Transportation could perform those functions by assuming the contracts of private companies that, at the time, provided security and screening functions at airports. If the government chose to accomplish its security and screening obligations via this route, the statute required that it pay adequate compensation to the private companies whose contracts were assumed. Id. ATSA’s transfer of responsibility for passenger and baggage screening from airlines to the federal government had the effect of bringing to an end Huntleigh’s security screening contracts with airlines.
In November of 2003, Huntleigh filed suit in the United States Court of Federal Claims under the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1) (2000). In its suit, Huntleigh alleged that ATSA’s transfer of responsibility for passenger and baggage screening resulted in a taking of its property without just compensation, in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Huntleigh also alleged that it was entitled to compensation under section 101(g)(2) of ATSA. In November of 2006, the Court of Federal Claims conducted a four-day trial on Huntleigh’s claims. Thereafter, on March 15, 2007, the court rendered a decision in which it rejected both of Huntleigh’s claims and ordered the dismissal of Huntleigh’s complaint. Huntleigh USA Corp. v. United States, 75 Fed. Cl. 642 (2007). The court ruled that Huntleigh’s takings claim failed because Huntleigh had failed to establish that its property had been taken by the government. Id. at 645–46. The court ruled against Huntleigh on its claim for compensation under section 101(g)(2) of ATSA on the ground that the government had not assumed any of Huntleigh’s contracts. Id. at 649.
