FAA Funding Debate - Airlines' Arguments

AOPA FAA Funding Debate

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.