By Stephen Pope
October 20, 2011
The Senate has removed a provision in President Obama’s Jobs Act that would have imposed a $100-per-flight user fee on corporate jet flights. The move comes after strong opposition to the fee proposal in the business aviation community, highlighted by calls at last week’s NBAA Convention in Las Vegas to abandon the plan.
“Over the past five years, the idea of a per-flight fee is something Congress has thoroughly analyzed and rejected,” said NBAA spokesman Dan Hubbard. “Elected officials have discussed the idea in a host of hearings on the subject, and lawmakers have weighed in on the matter when FAA reauthorization has been debated. Earlier this year, 116 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the White House emphasizing their opposition to the notion of user fees. So, we’re pleased but not surprised to see that there’s a continued understanding in congress that per-flight user fees are a bad idea.”
The $100 fee would have been charged to private turboprop and jets operating on IFR flight plans. Aviation industry leaders hammered the proposal for creating a new layer of bureaucracy and unfairly targeting business aviation with a fee that would impact owners of small, personal turbine aircraft differently than corporations operating transcontinental business jets.
General aviation currently pays its way through fuel taxes on avgas and jet-A, a policy most in the aviation industry would like to see continued without additional user fees.
http://www.flyingmag.com/news/senate-strips-100-user-fee-president%E2%80%99s-jobs-act
Source: FLYING MAGAZINE
Date: 2011-10-20