After Bracing for Another Fight Over User Fees ...

... the aviation sector gets a reprieve. The alphabet groups in Washington breathed a collective sigh of relief with the release of the proposed Obama budget, expecting a renewed user fee battle following the President’s suggestion a year ago that new fees would be in the offing. Even the response of the Air Transport Association, which has led the call for new fees to get business aviation to pay more, was fairly muted in its response. ATA’s primary criticism was regarding the proposed increase in the security fee paid by passengers. Some selected excerpts from the trade groups … NBAA president Ed Bolen: "The proposal introduced by the White House today stands in clear contrast to language we saw last year. Our community, which has been so energized and mobilized by the user fee threat, should be heartened by this news.” NATA president Jim Coyne: “While NATA is pleased with the Obama administration's choice to omit a user fee proposal in the FY 11 budget, the industry must remain vigilant to ensure that any future user fee proposals are unsuccessful." AOPA president Craig Fuller: “Today's budget proposal makes it evident that our voices were heard. Someone in the Obama Administration decided to hit ‘pause’ when they came to the aviation user fee option.” ATA president James C. May: “While we are pleased that the federal government is supporting significantly increased federal funding for Advanced Information Technology machines and Federal Air Marshals, we are disappointed that they again proposed increasing passenger security fees by an additional $7 billion from 2012 through 2015." AAAE president Chip Barclay: “Airport executives remain committed to seeing the enactment of an increase in the federal cap on local Passenger Facility Charges to $7.50 with indexing for construction cost inflation along with a permanent extension of relief from the AMT penalty for airport bonds. Taken together, these measures would improve our infrastructure, stimulate the economy, and create good-paying jobs.” ACI-NA president Greg Principato: "Since NextGen begins and ends at the airport, we are glad to see that the President has included $1.1 billion to help speed the development and implementation of a modernized air traffic control system. Airports look forward to working with the Administration and FAA on providing the ground infrastructure necessary to make NextGen a reality." One thing that the industry has become united on in recent years is support for the NextGen air traffic control modernization program – from installing the critical infrastructure to calling for government support for equipage of aircraft. For the airport community, top issues that remain include the PFC increase; AMT relief; and continued funding for the Essential Air Service program. A concern in the Obama budget is that it “zeroed out” funding for the Small Community Air Service Development program, which assists airports in attracting new air service – an ongoing critical issue for many communities. With the user fee debate (temporarily?) behind us, perhaps the legislators on Capitol Hill can finally get to passing long-term FAA/industry reauthorization. But then, that could be just too much to ask. Thanks for reading. jfi