By Kate Sarsfield in London
The US business aviation community has dismissed as biased the findings of a recent analysis from US government think-tank the Reason Foundation, which concludes that business jet operators "should seriously rethink their opposition to airspace user fees because of potential cost savings and network improvements".
In its study, Reason, a supporter of air traffic control privatisation, compared existing aviation taxes with several hypothetical ATC user fee scenarios for 15 commonly used business jets, ranging from the Boeing Business Jet to the Eclipse 500 very light jet.
Reason says fractional ownership and charter business jet operators now pay up to five times as much as corporate operators for identical services. But if ATC shifted to a user-fee system based on a weight-distance formula, these operators would pay one-third less than they now pay in aviation taxes.
Robert Poole, study author and Reason's director of transportation, says: "Many trade groups have taken positions against any consideration of user fees. But that opposition doesn't reflect the possible direct cost savings to many operators in shifting from taxes to fees." He says the business jet community should "support fundamental reform and modernisation of the air traffic control system".
Ed Bolen, president of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), says the Reason study "won't have much impact on the debate. Poole has always had a clear mission to promote government privatisation efforts and this study is another example of that".
Source: Flight International
