FAA Funding Proposal Causes Private Jet Backlash
The Federal Aviation Administration's proposal to change funding rules for the national aviation system is causing an uproar within the business aviation community, which claimed that recommended changes would stick business aviation firms with a heftier bill. The proposal would shift the portion of air traffic control funding currently generated from fuel tax revenue to aircraft-based user fees.
National Business Aviation Association president and CEO Ed Bolen is among those leading the charge to rally support against the proposal, which he said treats all airplanes the same regardless of size.
"Their rationale is, to air traffic control all blips on the radar screen cost the same," he said. "They propose that every plane be charged the same price."
While commercial airlines based in the United States are championing the new user-fee model, Bolen said the changes "would shift on to business aviation an estimated $2 billion worth of the expense of operating the air traffic control system"—a cost that has the potential to trickle down to corporate users. NBAA said the proposal would quadruple the roughly $500 million currently paid annually in air traffic control taxes by business aviation companies.
"We've got to get engaged," Bolen said during a speech at the NBAA's Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference held in San Antonio in late January. "Part of the reason the airlines have chosen to focus on business aviation and pick a fight with us is because they think they can win it. They already have said they are interested in a user-fee proposal that holds harmless 'grassroots aviation.' "
"What they are really saying is that they recognize that the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, with 407,000 members, has a demonstrated ability to contact Congress. With a million-dollar political action committee, they truly are a political force," he said.
Jack Pelton, chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and chairman, president and CEO of Cessna Aircraft Co., last month in a speech to government and industry officials at the Washington Aero Club encouraged the Federal Aviation Administration to seek alternatives to the proposed funding changes.
"I propose we address some basic business questions before we implement more policies or procedures that could potentially add cost or make the system more burdensome than it already is," Pelton said.