The user fee plans advocated by airlines and the FAA would be
devastating to small and medium-sized companies nationwide, said
Richard Shine, CEO of Manitoba Recycling, a 60-person, family-owned
company in Lancaster, NY, in testimony Thursday before the Senate
Aviation Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources and
Infrastructure.
"I represent a small business that operates a turboprop airplane
to help my company survive, and my story is not unique," Shine told
the subcommittee. "The general aviation community of which I am a
part supports modernization of our aviation system, and is willing
to help pay for it. But we want to pay at the pump - not through
user fees or new taxes. The fuel tax is a simple, proven and
efficient way to measure and pay for system use for operators like
me."
Shine said an airplane, in his case a turbine-powered Mitsubishi
MU-2, "has been the secret to our success. You don't often hear
about companies like mine in discussions of business aviation," he
said.
"Instead, the focus is always on big Fortune 500 companies. But
I hope the members of this subcommittee understand that for every
Fortune 500 company that relies on turbine powered business
aviation, there are eight or nine companies like mine."
He then told the subcommittee about
his personal experience with a user fee system, NavCanada, because
his business is located near the Canadian border and he flies often
into Canadian airspace.
"Several weeks after a flight, NavCanada's bureaucracy sends me
an invoice," Shine said. "If I've made multiple flights I get
multiple invoices. I need to fill out a purchase order, cut a
check, and put the check and the invoice back in the mail to
NavCanada. Obviously, this imposes a significant, and hidden,
administrative cost to my business."
For Manitoba, and the thousands of similar businesses that run
on a very narrow profit margin, Shine asked the subcommittee: "Why
anyone would want to put this kind of burden on businesses like
mine, when we already have a better and more efficient system in
place?"
Ed Bolen, President and CEO of the
National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) commended Shine's
testimony and agreed with his conclusions.
"Today, Richard Shine did a tremendous service in putting forth
the true face of business aviation, representing America's general
aviation community, and demonstrating the real impact of user fees
on a large number of American businesses," said Bolen.
"As Richard Shine so articulately pointed out, this user fee
plan would shift billions onto general aviation operators."
Bolen said, "We look forward to working cooperatively with
members of the subcommittee in the Senate, and with the House to
develop an effective plan to modernize our nation's aviation system
based on an equitable approach for all users."