Under a barrage of protest from overseas governments and pressure at home, the Federal Aviation Administration may back down and modify its position on overflight fees.
A senior official at the FAA confirms that most of the comments received on the overflight ruling are negative. Before the current interim rule is finalised, the official says that changes could be made to address the grievances.
Pressure to make those changes comes not just from the overseas parties but also from Congress. The US commerce and transportation committee, which last year approved the implementation of an overflight user system, now says it has serious concerns about the way the FAA has proceeded. 'It is apparent to the committee that Congress should be very wary of providing the FAA with such authority in the future,' says a committee report. It chides the FAA in strong language, for what it describes as a 'cavalier attitude' towards its international legal obligations.
The FAA implemented the new overflight fees in May. They are applicable to aircraft that operate in US airspace but do not take off or land in the US. The FAA expects to recover about $90 million a year through the system, which is consistent with the practice of many other countries, to help offset the cost of air traffic control services it provides to those aircraft.
Governments around the world are angry, however, by the way fees were introduced, saying there was little or no advanced consultation, as required under bilateral air services deals. Some countries say the fees discriminate in favour of US airlines. In one diplomatic letter to the US, the embassies of 20 countries joined with the European Commission to object to the implementation of an overflight fee system 'without prior, meaningful consultation with governments, airlines and other interested parties'.
The letter also says cost-allocation calculations made public during the comment period in support of the FAA's fee structure 'fall short' of allowing for an accurate review, particularly over oceanic fees.
The diplomatic embarrassment is compounded by the fact that the US State Department, the Air Transport Association of America and several senior senators are also concerned that the FAA may not have acted appropriately. Assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs Alan Larson has written to the FAA pointing out its legal obligations and urging the administration to ensure they are 'fully addressed' in the rulemaking process.
The ATA, meanwhile, sees its basic concern as the lack of 'appropriate' consultation. 'This unfortunate shortcoming could harm future US government efforts to persuade other governments to engage in meaningful advance consultations before imposing their own aviation-related fees upon US air carriers,' says the ATA's vice president, James Casey.
The ATA also points out that the principle of mutual exemption from fees is a common practice and urges the FAA to exempt Canadian domestic flights that use US airspace from the overflight fee in the same way that Canada now exempts US domestic flights that use Canadian airspace.
The transportation committee says it would like such an exemption to extend to Mexico, which with Canada is a member of the North American Free Trade Area trading bloc. 'A fee which invites retaliation by a foreign government is nothing more than a hidden tax on the American people,' says the report.
Karen Walker
Source: Airline Business
