As Julius Ceasar found out, March is not a good month for knives to be out. And the sound of blades being unsheathed echoed across Washington DC last week in preparation for the backstabbing and bloodletting of Congressional hearings into a new way to fund the Federal Aviation Administration.
After years of working together to build the consensus that the creaking US airspace system needs modernising, and of speaking with one voice when lobbying Congress for the funds to do it, when it comes to deciding who will pay, and how, the opposing sides have reverted to type and retreated to their corners to await the bloodbath.
Today, airspace users pay for the FAA through a combination of airline ticket taxes and fuel taxes, topped up each year by Congress with money drawn from the government’s general tax account. But the FAA says this revenue stream is not sufficient, nor stable enough, to pay for both operating and modernising the airspace system.
Now airlines have turned on their erstwhile allies in general aviation and look set to propose a single fee for every turbine flight within the US instrument flight rules (IFR) system, regardless of aircraft size. The GA community has united in opposition to user fees and wants to continue paying through fuel taxes.
Flight Global
After years of working together to build the consensus that the creaking US airspace system needs modernising, and of speaking with one voice when lobbying Congress for the funds to do it, when it comes to deciding who will pay, and how, the opposing sides have reverted to type and retreated to their corners to await the bloodbath.
Today, airspace users pay for the FAA through a combination of airline ticket taxes and fuel taxes, topped up each year by Congress with money drawn from the government’s general tax account. But the FAA says this revenue stream is not sufficient, nor stable enough, to pay for both operating and modernising the airspace system.
Now airlines have turned on their erstwhile allies in general aviation and look set to propose a single fee for every turbine flight within the US instrument flight rules (IFR) system, regardless of aircraft size. The GA community has united in opposition to user fees and wants to continue paying through fuel taxes.
Flight Global
