Egregious FBO pricing questionedAOPA files complaints over FBO fees
With the filing of official complaints with the FAA, AOPA rolled out the next phase of its ongoing effort to tackle egregious fees charged by certain fixed-base operations around the country. The move comes after months of effort identifying the worst offenders and attempting to work with local airport sponsors receptive to ensuring that their communities offer pilots reasonable access to their airfields, often described as the local on and off ramps to the National Airspace System.
On August 28, AOPA, along with seven affected pilots, filed FAA Part 13 complaints over FBO pricing practices at Illinois’s Waukegan National Airport, North Carolina’s Asheville Regional Airport, and Florida’s Key West International Airport, on behalf of its membership. At each of these airports, a single FBO controls all transient ramp space and fuel services, which means each FBO possesses a monopoly position and significant power over access to a public airport. AOPA believes each FBO has failed to fulfill its responsibility to protect the airport for public use through reasonable and fair pricing. The FBOs have instead engaged in egregious pricing practices under minimal oversight and in violation of standards designed to protect reasonable access to public ramp space.
The FAA Part 13 complaint process is a means for AOPA and affected pilots, who also signed the complaints, to ask the FAA to investigate these practices and take any necessary action to ensure compliance with the airport’s grant assurances. Obligations include requiring FBOs to charge reasonable and nondiscriminatory pricing for each aeronautical service rendered.
Of the hundreds of complaints AOPA has received over egregious FBO pricing, Waukegan, Asheville, and Key West are three of the top five most-complained-about airports. All three are Signature Flight Support locations. The other two airports rounding out the top five are Heber City, Utah, and Rochester, Minnesota.
“Our members have spoken and they’re tired of being forced to pay for services they don’t want, ask for, or need,” said AOPA President and CEO Mark Baker. “It’s all about price transparency and reasonable access to places that are supposed to be public. We also believe that promoting more competition will help relieve some of the ongoing problems our members continually face at these locations.”
Ask Congress to oppose ATC privatization AOPA continues to urge members to contact their representatives
As the House of Representatives considered a vote on a bill that would remove air traffic control from the FAA and turn it over to the airlines, high-profile aviators spoke out against the so-called “privatization” of air traffic control.
Six former team leads for the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and U.S. Navy Blue Angels spoke out against H.R.2997, the 21st Century AIRR Act, in a video released from the International Council of Air Shows Inc. The military team commanders join “Miracle on the Hudson” hero, former US Airways Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger; Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell; and others opposing the proposal. Privatization would cost tens of billions of dollars and airlines could dictate policy at the expense of general aviation and rural communities. Additionally, costs would go up for every traveler, and a privatized ATC would inherently be “too big to fail,” resulting in taxpayer bailouts.
In the past, the government has unsuccessfully tried to create nonprofit, industry controlled monopolies such as Amtrak and the U.S. Postal Service; don’t let government do the same thing to our skies. AOPA urges members to speak out against air traffic control privatization. Call or send a letter to your representatives in Congress. Make sure to ask representatives to oppose H.R.2997 and protect the freedom to fly.
Have the facts and solutions at the ready when discussing with friends and family. Download AOPA’s online Emergency ATC Privatization Checklist.
Part 23 reform takes effect
Aircraft certification reforms long in the making (and backed by AOPA and other advocates) took effect August 30, creating new ways to improve safety and affordability across the general aviation fleet.
The final rule that reforms small aircraft certification standards was issued in December 2016, and allows manufacturers to use performance-based consensus standards in lieu of “prescriptive” standards that have long hindered the development and implementation of new technologies in both new aircraft and the existing fleet. AOPA Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs David Oord said the new certification rule and methods of compliance will reverse that situation, improving safety and reducing cost, and also speeding the arrival of new aircraft and equipment.
“We are expecting to see new aircraft designs come to market that incorporate new and novel technologies at a price point that was previously unattainable,” Oord said. “General aviation is at a critical point in its history, and we believe that this reform, now effective, will make significant improvements in both the safety and affordability of the GA fleet while serving as a catalyst for growth.”
Web: www.aopa.org/Part23
ACTION IN THE STATES
AOPA supports California seaplane business
A California air tour company, which won a round in its battle to stay in business before a government board as hundreds of supporters packed a public hearing, continues its survival struggle. The Marin County Planning Commission voted 5-0, with two members recusing themselves, to deny a formal recommendation that would have increased operating restrictions for Seaplane Adventures, a business that provides sightseeing tours of the San Francisco area and offers air charter services. AOPA, which has approximately 34,000 members in California, wrote a letter of support for Seaplane Adventures to the planning commission, pointing out the company’s “impeccable” safety record and its willingness to accommodate the needs of others as the region has undergone change.
Web: www.aopa.org/californiaseaplane
New Jersey, AOPA take on TFR incursions
Too many pilots violated the temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) in effect during President Donald Trump’s 17-day vacation in Bedminster, New Jersey. During the Friday-through-Sunday period of the final weekend of the president’s visit, 18 TFR incursions occurred, with 13 occurring on Saturday, said Nobuyo Sakata, AOPA director of aviation security. AOPA continues to work with security agencies to reduce the impact of security TFRs on GA, and these efforts are made easier when AOPA can show GA’s compliance with current security procedures. In emailed alerts and news reports posted to AOPA Online, AOPA has notified pilots before VIP TFRs take effect. AOPA recently unveiled an app that delivers a wide range of information to users, including TFR advisories transmitted to pilots based on their device’s location. “Pilots may not always check their email, but if the alert shows up on their phones, they are more likely to see it,” said Sean Collins, AOPA’s eastern regional manager.
Web: www.aopa.org/TFRincursions
North Carolina drops aircraft maintenance tax
Legislation passed in North Carolina puts the state on track to give its $230 million aircraft maintenance industry a key tool in its bid to compete with neighboring states’ aviation businesses. Gov. Roy Cooper signed Senate Bill 628, a wide-ranging tax package that included AOPA-backed language to provide an exemption from sales and use taxes for repairs, maintenance, and installation services performed on aircraft with a gross takeoff weight of more than 2,000 pounds. “This onerous tax caught many aircraft owners and aviation business off guard when it took effect in 2016,” said Steve Hedges, manager of AOPA’s Southern Region. “AOPA worked hard to get it repealed, recognizing that it doesn’t benefit anyone, including the state.” The bill takes effect in 2019. AOPA has more than 8,000 members in North Carolina, a state in which 60 aviation aircraft repair businesses generate more than $230 million in revenue annually and employ about 3,200 people.
