All turbine aircraft using the US airspace system would pay user charges based on departures and time in system, irrespective of aircraft size, under a proposal unveiled by the Air Transport Association (ATA).
The call to finance operation and modernization of the national airspace system via cost-based user fees is part of a 10-point “statement of principles” on funding the Federal Aviation Administration unanimously agreed by ATA’s board and unveiled on 8 March by the Washington, DC-based airline trade body.
ATA says the present system of funding the FAA through ticket and fuel taxes paid into a trust fund places a disproportionate burden on the airlines. “The trust fund is based primarily on ticket prices, so the revenue is not linked to the cost of services,” says ATA president and chief executive James May.
Commercial aviation contributed 94% of the revenue to operate the air traffic control system in fiscal year 2004, says May, but accounted for 69% of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations. Business aviation accounted for 15% of IFR flights, but carried 4% of the cost, he says.
ATA’s concept for reform of the airspace system calls for a “sustainable and equitable” funding mechanism that allocates costs fairly among users and provides a reliable, dedicated funding stream that the FAA can use to modernize the system to handle forecast growth in demand.
ATA’s statement of principles urges Congress to impose mandatory user charges “directly and proportionally linking system use with system costs”. In lieu of taxes, aircraft charges would be assessed based on a percentage formula “that incorporates only number of departures and time in system”.
ATA proposes that user fees be made up of a departure charge and a time-in-system charge, both based on “credible, government-driven” data, May says. He cites the FAA’s enhanced traffic management system, which already provides data on every IFR flight, and cost allocation data now being developed by the agency.
Charges would be based on the aircraft, and not the passengers, says May. The ATA has rejected the weight- and distance-based formula recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization and used by other countries that charge user fees. “Weight has no bearing on the operation of the ATC system. It just doesn’t work,” he says.
Other points in ATA’s statement of principles include that the revenue generated from user fees be segregated from other government revenue and dedicated exclusively to airspace system operation and modernization; that the revenues be spent without additional Congressional action; and that the funding stream be used to support bond financing of modernization, which is expected to cost at least $2 billion a year.
ATA also wants a “user pay equals user say” administrative structure that provides a “direct role in governance proportional to the extent of each user category’s financial contribution”. May says: “We want a say in how the money is spent that is independent of Congress and the contractors.”
GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON, DC
Source: Flight International
