FAA Bill Stalls in Senate

The private aviation industry remains cloudy over the funding method for the Federal Aviation Administration. The full House of Representatives passed an FAA funding bill in September but the Senate is still in disagreement on whether to continue imposing a fuel tax on the airlines and private owners and operators or instead implement a new $25 user fee. The Senate was not in session for the week of Oct. 8 and no final vote was expected soon. The funding of the FAA has been the number one concern in the aviation industry and of much interest to the airline charter and management companies based at Van Nuys Airport. In the aviation industry, the lines are clearly drawn on which side prefers which funding method. The commercial air carriers argue the user fee is more equitable and is necessary to keep its passengers from subsidizing the flights of corporate executives. The business aviation industry argues that a user fee sets a bad precedent and prefers to keep the fuel sales tax. “(A user fee) would be a lot more onerous and administratively burdensome than filling up at the pump,” National Business Aviation Association President Ed Bolen said. The $37.2 billion House bill increases the general aviation fuel tax by 65 percent for turbine-powered jets and earmarks the additional money to update the air traffic control system. A Senate Commerce Committee version of the bill would implement a $25 per flight user fee for all turbine-powered planes to generate $400 million for control system modernization. An opposing Senate Finance Committee bill would raise the $400 million through an increase in the fuel tax and the international departure tax. Options faced by the Senate are hammering out a compromise bill or having both bills go to a vote in the full Senate to see which has more support. “It is not clear how this will proceed,” Bolen said. By not passing a bill Congress failed to meet the Sept. 30 deadline marking the end of the federal government’s fiscal year. Both houses passed a resolution to keep funding the FAA until mid-November.