President's position: Shining a light

Working to ensure the affordability of flying is one of AOPA’s core missions, and we believe that reasonable airport access is crucial to protecting general aviation. While most FBOs are doing a great job, a handful are imposing unreasonable fees and engaging in pricing practices that restrict access. When airports accept federal funding through the Airport Improvement Program, they also agree to comply with certain grant obligations. Some of those obligations include requiring that lease-holding FBOs charge reasonable and nondiscriminatory pricing for each aeronautical service rendered. This requirement is necessary to protect the airport for public use.

At the request of airport sponsors seeking to make their facilities more welcoming to general aviation pilots, AOPA in recent months developed guidelines that will ensure pricing transparency, competitiveness, and reasonable fees at FBOs; filed three FAR Part 13 complaints to the FAA to address the most egregious airports we’ve found; and shed more light on the issue through our reporting.

We’ve seen significant progress at a number of airports. Paving the way for progress was a decision by California’s Orange County Board of Supervisors to replace an FBO at John Wayne Airport following numerous pricing complaints. In Utah, Heber City recently revised its airport’s minimum standards to promote competition, allowing for the possibility, among other things, for self-service avgas. Waukegan National Airport in Illinois opened its south ramp for free overnight transient tiedowns. And Syracuse Hancock International Airport in New York is adding a second FBO, in an effort to promote competition.

But throughout this effort, it also became clear that there’s an enormous lack of transparency at certain FBOs. Whether you’re there for a quick turn, a hundred-dollar burger, or an overnight tiedown, there is nothing pleasant about being charged fees for services you didn’t ask for or use, much less not being aware of what you will be charged for before you arrive. And there’s absolutely no reason why a pilot flying to a public-access airport that receives federal funds should not be able to easily access information about the fees they will be expected to pay (and why).

In the digital age of technology and apps, we can access the cost of goods and services with a few keystrokes on our phone. So why doesn’t this exist for general aviation?

AOPA took this lack of transparency as an opportunity to raise the bar and expand the information provided to pilots through our updated online airport directory (www.aopa.org/airports), which will be released in the coming months.

AOPA has been in contact with thousands of FBOs across the country in order to expand our database of airport and aviation business information. As a result, we will soon be able to provide more detailed data, including fees at many locations. However, we have found that a small number of FBOs—at least 100 so far—have not been willing to publicly disclose their fees to AOPA and our members. We will highlight those locations accordingly when we launch the directory. Our goal is to make it easy for pilots to access FBO fee information long before having to pay the bill.

The FAA also recently weighed in on the debate when it issued official guidance further supporting our initiative for more transparent and reasonable fees. The agency reminded airport sponsors that receive federal funds that they “have a responsibility to ensure that FBO services and pricing practices are reasonable and applied in a non-unjustly discriminatory manner.”

The guidance lays out 11 ways that airport sponsors can begin to take back control of their airport in the face of fees and pricing practices that restrict access. Some of those recommendations include establishing self-serve fueling; making rates and charges public; creating different classes of FBOs; updating rules and minimum standards; and keeping exclusive control of ramp space.

We will use the guidance and recommendations to ensure airport sponsors understand their responsibilities and pilots know their rights, and this begins with transparency.

The FAA’s guidance specifically states, “to confirm whether airport fees are reasonable and not unjust[ly] discriminatory, the fees, rates, and charges should be disclosed and made publicly available.”

We agree.

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