SMO Fee Structure Determined Unlawful
The NBAA Thursday welcomed a decision from the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) finding that the landing-fee structure at
Santa Monica Airport (SMO) unjustly discriminates against certain
types of aircraft.
"The determination made by the FAA is great news for anyone
opposed to discriminatory landing fees in the United States," said
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. "Santa Monica Airport has been
unfairly discriminating against business aircraft operators, in
violation of federal law. We commend the FAA for upholding the law
and supporting the concept of fair and equal access for all airport
users."
The landing-fee structure, or "schedule," used by the City of
Santa Monica for the airport has been the subject of controversy
since 2003 when the city implemented a new fee schedule, reportedly
to fund an "Airside Surfaces Maintenance Program (ASMP)" to
maintain airport pavement. Developers of the new fee schedule
contended that operators of larger aircraft should bear a
significantly larger share of the ASMP cost than smaller
aircraft.
However, the FAA found that the landing-fee schedule at Santa
Monica differed from those at most airfields. Instead of
designating landing-fee increases in consistent, per-thousand-pound
weight increments for aircraft, the fee schedule at Santa Monica
assigned widely ranging fees to aircraft of various weights. As a
result, operators of certain types of large business aircraft bore
a disproportionately and inconsistently high landing-fee cost.
Last year, NBAA was joined by two Member Companies - Bombardier
Aerospace and Dassault Falcon Jet - in filing a complaint with the
FAA arguing that the fee schedule was unreasonably discriminatory
and unlawful.
In a 55-page analysis, the FAA concurred, stating that the SMO
schedule violates federal law and is "fundamentally flawed in that
it fails to provide a reasonable relationship between the revised
landing fees and the costs of maintaining the pavement at SMO."
Until the city withdraws its landing-fee structure Santa Monica
Airport will be ineligible for federal airport improvement funds
under FAA's Airport Improvement Program. Alternately, the city may
choose to appeal the FAA's ruling.
"We are pleased the FAA has taken a strong stand on behalf of
business aircraft operators," Bolen continued. "The business
aviation sector contributes greatly to the local economy, and
because modern business aircraft are remarkably quiet, business
aircraft operators make good neighbors. We are hopeful that the
FAA's decision will eliminate the need for further, unnecessary
legal action for all involved."