Van Nuys Airport to Increase Fuel Delivery Fee

The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners approved on Thursday an increase to the fuel delivery charge at Van Nuys Airport. The increase to 13 cents from 11 cents is effective Jan. 17 and is a way for the San Fernando Valley airfield to be self-sustaining while having a minimal impact on the aircraft owners who pay the fee. An increase to 11 cents took place in 2011. In fiscal year 2018, Van Nuys sold about 27.4 million gallons of jet fuel, generating about $3 million in delivery fees. That accounted for about 15 percent of the airport’s operating revenues in the fiscal year, according to a staff report. “The two-cent a gallon increase in Jet Fuel Delivery Fee … is expected to result in incremental revenues of approximately $298,000 in FY2019,” the staff report said. “This projection assumes increased sales volume of 13 percent due to expected increases in fuel sales to aircraft displaced by the shortening of Santa Monica Airport’s runway.” Operating expenses at Van Nuys, however, have increased and resulted in subsidies from Los Angeles International Airport the past two fiscal years. The increase will allow the Valley airport to maintain operations without the subsidies, the staff report added. The Los Angeles City Council must approve the fee increase before it goes into effect. The fee has been collected at the airport since 1979 and the increase will make it the second most expensive at large general aviation airports, after Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. The new fee would cost nearly double the 6 cents charged at Long Beach and John Wayne airports in Southern California.