US general aviation is bracing for a battle over airspace user fees. “Pretty soon there will start to be a war,” says GAMA president and chief executive Pete Bunce. “The GA community is one group in unison to fight user fees.”
The FAA is expected to call for user fees in a funding proposal to Congress in March. The US airspace system is currently funded from ticket and fuel taxes paid into an aviation trust fund. “The airlines see user fees as an opportunity to shed over $2 billion a year in costs,” says Bunce.
The airspace system was built and is operated to support the airlines’ hubs and spokes, Bunce argues, noting that GA accounts for only 6% of operations at the 35 major airports in the FAA’s Operational Evolution Plan – all but nine of which are hubs. “There is no commonality between the top 20 airline and top 20 GA airports,” he says.
As Congress debates FAA funding, GA will push for “a coherent modernisation programme with dollars agreed against it”, says Bunce. “Once we get a plan, then we can talk about what it will cost.” GA wants to continue paying through “efficient” fuel taxes, “but we are not saying taxes don’t need to be adjusted”, he says.
Source: Flight International
