Aviation Groups Blast Idea Of Fees

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Sept. 20--The Wichita Eagle

Some of the nation's general aviation groups are using some harsh words in their opposition of President Obama's plan to impose user fees on corporate jets and turboprops, calling the proposal "stupid" and a "cockamamie" idea.

Nine of the country's largest general aviation trade groups have banded together to oppose the Obama administration's proposal of a $100-per-flight fee for corporate jets and turboprops flying into controlled airspace.

Military aircraft, public aircraft, recreational piston aircraft, air ambulances and aircraft operating outside of controlled airspace wouldn't be charged.

"It's just absolutely stupid," said Pete Bunce, president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. "We don't know any of the details in all of this.... From a public policy standpoint, there's so many dangers and bear traps and pitfalls in all of this."

The Aircraft Electronics Association, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Experimental Aircraft Association, GAMA, Helicopter Association International, International Council of Air Shows, the National Association of State Aviation Officials, the National Air Transportation Association and the National Business Aviation Association came together Monday to oppose the fees.

Imposing the $100 fees would raise $11 billion over 10 years, the plan says.

General aviation users pay a fuel tax, but the revenue doesn't cover their share of the services, the plan said. All flights using controlled air space require a similar level of air service.

"However, commercial and general aviation can pay very different aviation fees for those same air traffic services," the plan said.

For example, a large commercial aircraft would pay from $1,300 to $2,000 in taxes for a flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco, the plan said. A corporate jet would pay about $60 in taxes.

A similar fee proposal introduced by President George W. Bush's administration was rejected by Congress, industry leaders point out.

"We view it as very unfortunate that the president has chosen to dredge up this old, flawed, dismissed policy proposal," said Ed Bolen, president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Administration. "We all thought it was put behind us."

The fees were the topic of study and debate during the process to reauthorize funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, Bolen said.

The House and Senate passed bills endorsing per-gallon fuel charges rather than a per-flight tax.

"We've already stepped up to the plate," he said. "The administration has not made an effort to get this FAA reauthorization bill passed, and they come up with these cockamamie ideas."

If general aviation flights were grounded tomorrow, the system -- built specifically for the nation's commercial airlines -- would incur most of the costs it does today, Bolen said.

"The hundreds of millions of dollars that general aviation pays through its fuel taxes covers the incremental costs of handling general aviation airplanes," Bolen said.

The fees would create significant, new administrative burden on general aviation operators who pay fees through an efficient fuel-tax charge at the pump, he said.

It also would create a costly government bureaucracy to collect them.

At the same time, other parts of the world have imposed per-flight charges and the results have been devastating, the groups said.