Notes from an FAA session in Pittsburgh, and insurance ...
ACI-NA recently held its annual meeting in Pittsburgh, during which FAA met with airport reps.
With the debacle that is FAA reauthorization (or lack thereof) comes challenges for the agency. Relates acting Associate Administrator for Airports Kate Lang, “For all of us it’s been a pretty tough year.” Managing a $3.5 billion AIP grant program on three-month continuing extensions doesn’t present a pretty picture.
Adds Lang, “We’re trying to figure out what kind of hand we’re going to have.” Capitol Hill recently passed its 16th continuing resolution to keep the system operating. With an election in the offing, Lang fully expects to see CR number 17.
Congress ... this is your wakeup call. Or maybe a new Congress; in which case, we start from scratch.
All that said, Lang adds, “The White House is determined to put money into airports.” Infrastructure investment is high on the radar.
Hank Krakowski, the COO of FAA’s Air Traffic Organization, says that “this is a big year for us.” Runway incursions are down significantly; a safety management system (SMS) is in process; and, NextGen is moving aggressively forward with the implementation of ADS-B. “I think we’re over the hump,” he says.
One caution related to ATC modernization is the fact that many older facilities may no longer be needed. “Hard decisions” is what Krakowski calls them. Seems that anytime FAA wants to shut down a facility, a member of Congress shows up asking for justification. Modernization never seems to be the right answer.
Nancy LoBue of FAA’s Policy, Planning, and Environment division says that the next great thing for airports, after SMS, is environmental systems management. In fact, she says, its essentially SMS for the environment.
On the environment Lang says, “There are leaders and then there are stragglers. If you don’t grow green, you don’t grow.”
One comment that came out of the FAA session at ACI-NA was the fact that Congress is very interested in looking into putting a tax on the baggage handling fees being imposed at a number of airlines. Tax monies would then be added to the aviation trust fund. Not a crazy thought. Or maybe we just make the bag fee a tax for using the system.
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Finally ... got curious recently regarding how the aviation insurance market is doing. Got in touch with Ed Underwood of Avsurance for a barometer reading. His feedback: Things are pretty good. In fact, there is excess capacity among providers, making it a buyer’s market.
Says Underwood, “It’s a good time to be an aviation consumer. Right now, anybody can get insurance in a piston-engine maintenance shop, which is sort of a benchmark. It used to be a problem getting insurance.
“No one is talking about insurance right now; it’s a non-issue.”
Thanks for reading.
