A Serious Discussion on Aviation Funding ...

... should include a serious discussion about funding – in the general media, that is. On Sunday, Yahoo! was pushing an Associated Press article with a San Francisco dateline entitled, “Traveler taxes awarded to small airports.†In sum, the article was offering as a foregone conclusion that airline passengers had been bilked for billions via the feds to underwrite “small airports used mainly by private pilots and globe-trotting corporate executives.â€Â  The article quotes Robert Poole, president of the respected think-tank, Reason Foundation, who indeed sides more with the airlines’ funding argument that business aviation needs to pay more for its use of the system. And, it is true that FAA through the years has made millions in infrastructure investments at general aviation airports. Some of those investments may be questionable; in fact, FAA’s funding proposal calls for rethinking how GA airports are funded, or prioritized. Needless to say, projecting where infrastructure investment is best made in a system of airports is not an exact science. (Community follow-through plays large in long-term success.)  Yet it is a system. Airports and user groups seem to best appreciate this fact, living day to day the relief that GA facilities provide to the commercial airline system of airports. In an AP article that attempts to represent the voices of various industry groups, there is never any mention of the system and how it interrelates. Little mention is made of the economic development created or facilitated in many communities because of many of these “small†airport investments. (The one instance: How an AIP grant helped a former Air Force base, now Plattsburg (NY) International Airport, succeed in attracting tenants. This angle, however, is downplayed.)  Congressional leaders are considering whether or not the way aviation is funded needs to be changed. It would be helpful if their constituents were hearing a couple of the key elements of the story.  Thanks for reading. jfi