Wed, Feb 01, 2006
ANN Special Feature: The Coming War Over User Fees 02.02.06
The head of the Air Transport Association, as expected, has repeated the call for aviation user fees to bolster FAA's budget, a move that would offload millions of dollars of fees paid by the airlines onto general aviation users. ATA President James May made his comments on Friday at the National Aeronautic Association in Washington. In his speech, May repeated the airlines' stand that business aviation and the emerging very light jet market are not paying their fair share of fees to operate the air traffic management system. Revenues generated by the airline ticket tax have dropped by about 20-percent because of market-driven low fares. As a result... revenue pouring into the trust fund continues to decline. May's comments come on the heels of a speech by Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to the Aero-Club in Washington, where he strongly hinted that user fees may soon become a fact of life. He said the nation's airspace must have a sound, reliable revenue stream -- something he said it doesn't have today. He said the Airport Trust fund can't continue to rely on passenger ticket taxes... but stopped short of saying what comes next. Still... general aviation advocates say there's little doubt the FAA will push for user fees -- probably within the coming year. Doug MacNair is vice president for government affairs at the Experimental Aircraft Association. We also hear from NATA President Jim Coyne.
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