Aviation associations and organizations responded quickly this week after it was revealed that the Obama administration’s proposed budget once again included user fees for the industry.
Despite having similar moves defeated in the past, the proposed budget for fiscal year 2015 called for $100 per-flight user fees.
Pete Bunce, CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, said in a press release that he was “extremely disappointed” that user fees were back on the table.
Mark Baker, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, also expressed disappointment in the move.
In an AOPA press release, Baker said fees like the proposed surcharges are the wrong way to fund the national air transportation system and that “user fees like this one could cripple general aviation.”
Look for the topic of user fees to come up Tuesday when Baker will be in town to speak to the Wichita Aero Club.
Meanwhile, in a press release from the National Business Aviation Association, NBAA President Ed Bolen said that the aviation community already pays for its use of the aviation system through fuel taxes, meaning user fees are not only unwanted, but unwarranted as well.
http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/blog/2014/03/obama-budget-again-calls-for-aviation.html