FAA Funding Debate
AOPA FAA Funding Debate
The airlines' arguments
FICTION: The airlines use 69 percent of the air traffic control system but pay 90 percent of the cost.
FACT: Major system costs are driven by the peak demands of the airlines' hub-and-spoke, rush-hour operations, not individual GA flights.
- Hub-and-spoke operations impose large demand for short periods of time.
- Multiple departures in one direction during "rush hours" create en route congestion.
- All weather operations require massive infrastructure, including low-visibility taxi lights, precision approach monitor radar, ground radar, low-level wind shear alert systems, snow removal, and huge ramps, taxiways, runways, and parking areas.
