"The System Isn't Broken... Stop Trying To Fix It"
You just KNOW when AOPA
President Phil Boyer has a chance to speak directly with a
representative with the Air Transport Association -- trade
association for the nation's airlines -- about the hot-button topic
of user fees... there's gonna be some quotable comments. And such
was the case Monday, when Boyer debated former FAA policy official
Sharon Pinkerton -- now an ATA employee -- at the annual Air
Traffic Control Association conference in Washington, DC.
"Grandma in seat 28B should only have to pay her fair share,"
said Pinkerton.
"Should grandma have to pay the true cost to get a first-class
letter in Alaska, rather than 39 cents?" countered Boyer. "Should
highway users in New York help pay for an interstate highway in
Montana?"
The issue of what is "fair" when it comes to funding FAA
services took the spotlight during the conversation... with
Pinkerton repeating the argument that airlines "pay too much" for
air traffic control. AOPA notes that statement almost echoes the
FAA's contention it needs a new funding system, one that ties
revenue to costs.
(AOPA also observes it may be no small coincidence that Dan
Elwell, Pinkerton's replacement as the FAA's top policy official,
came from American Airlines... or that Megan Rosia, the FAA's new chief lobbyist,
is coming from Northwest Airlines. To quote a familiar movie, "pay
no attention to the man behind the curtain" --
Ed.)
Boyer countered that the air traffic control system is built to
meet the peak demands of the airlines, and general aviation uses
the excess capacity. For example, some airports have a control
tower simply because two airline flights a day operate from the
airport. Without those two flights, there would be no tower.
"It's certainly not fair to impose a tower on us, then claim
we're not paying our fair share," said Boyer. "Nor is it fair to
build a huge tracon structure solely because of the demands of the
airlines' 'push' operations at a hub airport, and then try to
apportion the tracon costs to the GA aircraft flying around the
edges into the reliever airports."
Boyer also countered the oft-repeated contention that the
current aviation funding system -— fuel taxes on general
aviation users, ticket taxes and segment fees on the airlines
-— can't fund the future air traffic control system.
"If we keep the same efficient and fair funding system we use
today, and even if you assume that the FAA's budget will grow
faster than it has in the past, and that there is only a moderate
increase in air travel, the aviation trust fund will still have a
surplus in 2010," Boyer said.
"There will be sufficient money to modernize ATC," he said, also
reminding the audience the modernization will most likely lead to
cost savings.
"The system isn't broken," Boyer said. "Stop trying to fix
it."