AOPA Asks FAA To Scrap Congestion Pricing

By: Chad Trautvetter

April 10, 2008
Airports, Government

“Congestion pricing should be the FAA’s last resort, not its first,” noted AOPA president Phil Boyer. “The agency’s [congestion pricing] proposal does nothing to improve the national air transportation system and could in fact hurt general aviation’s access to airports.

AOPA has offered the FAA and DOT several alternative suggestions to reduce delays, including aligning schedules with capacity benchmarks; implementing changes in ATC procedures; ensuring adequate ATC staffing; adding more runways to existing airports; and mandating key technologies at congested airports. The association is getting involved in this issue because “the possibility that this policy could expand to reliever and other general aviation airports is alarming,” according to AOPA executive vice president of government affairs Andy Cebula.

“Airports that don’t even have airline service may see DOT’s new emphasis on congestion pricing as a green light to start charging our members more to use their facilities, even though such tactics at those airports would have absolutely no effect on system-wide delays.

Back

Senate Finally Moves FAA Reauthorization to Floor March 11, 2010 Debate on S.1451, a bill that would reauthorize FAA spending and programs for two years, began this morning on the Senate floor. In addition to... [more]
EBAA Wants Expansion of U.S. Pre-clearance at Shannon March 09, 2010 The European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) has called on the U.S. government to extend the pre-clearance option now in effect at... [more]
ADS-B Final Rule Hits Stumbling Blocks March 09, 2010 The FAA’s long-promised April 10 release of its ADS-B final rule appears to have hit two bureaucratic stumbling blocks. For the agency to... [more]
AAAE, NATA Pan EPA De-icing Fluid Proposal March 04, 2010 The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) and National Air Transportation Association (NATA) both recently submitted comments to the... [more]
D.C. Federal District Court Removes the BARR March 02, 2010 A federal judge for the District of Columbia has ruled that aircraft tail numbers submitted for blockage under NBAA’s Block Aircraft... [more]