Opposing Aviation User Fees
Industry United Against Latest White House Message Supporting User Fees
NBAA Flight Plan intervew with NBAA's Ed Bolen and EAA's Dick Knapinski
January 23, 2012
The general aviation community continues to oppose with one voice the Obama administration’s proposal for a $100 per flight user fee. In a show of unity, general aviation organizations recently responded to a renewed signal of support for user fees from the White House with a clear message that aviation user fees just won’t fly.
In an email to almost 9,000 people who had signed a petition asking for the White House to take aviation user fees off the table, Dana Hyde, Associate Director for General Government Programs in the Office of Management and Budget, wrote: “[W]e want to ensure that everyone is paying their fair share…This is why the Administration proposed to establish a new surcharge for air traffic services.”
“It’s frustrating,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “You just want the whole user fee issue to go away, to put a silver stake through its heart. It just won’t die.”
That said, Bolen noted that the recent message from the White House, and the user fee issue broadly, has galvanized the industry as few other issues can.
James Coyne, president and CEO of the National Air Transportation Association agreed. “The aviation industry is united in opposing the President’s $100 per-flight fee or any other ‘user fee’ that would be detrimental to the general aviation industry, commercial airlines, domestic manufacturing, small businesses, and our economic recovery,” he said.
General Aviation Manufacturer’s Association President and CEO Pete Bunce echoed Coyne’s comments. “We stand united with our commercial and general aviation brethren in our opposition to user fees. Simply put, if implemented, user fees will negatively impact safety and increase the federal bureaucracy at a time when we should be finding efficiencies. When user fees like these have been imposed in other countries, they have led to the systematic destruction of vibrant general aviation industries. This proposal has serious negative ramifications for general aviation manufacturers, our employees, and our nation’s competitiveness.”
Even those organizations whose members in large part would be exempted from the White House’s user fee proposal remained staunchly opposed.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President and CEO Craig Fuller wrote in a recent blog post, “Honestly, the White House statement was not that much of a surprise. They just won’t let go of this bad idea and we expect to see it in the President’s budget in February. We will build opposition to this idea yet again.”
Asked why his organization opposed the measure, given that most of its members would be exempted from the $100/flight fee, Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) spokesman Dick Knapinski said there was no guarantee that piston aircraft would always be exempt. He also suggested creation of a collection bureaucracy would become a huge distraction for the FAA.
But, he continued, that isn’t EAA’s only objection.
“It really does come down to being a safety issue,” Knapinski said. “People will try to avoid paying user fees. They may not use the system or they may not use components of the system they would normally need to help fly safely. That is something we simply cannot tolerate,” Knapinski explained.
“We will continue our efforts on Capitol Hill and help people understand why fuel taxes work and user fees destroy,” said Bolen.