Several Changes Make It More Friendly To GA And Business Aviation, According To The Reason Foundation

The latest version of the House FAA reauthorization bill ... the AIRR Act ... is a significant improvement over the bill passed by the house in 2016, according to analysis from Robert W. Poole, Jr., Searle Freedom Trust Transportation Fellow and Director of Transportation Policy, for the Reason Foundation.

In a newsletter distributed to Aero-News, Poole writes:

"Among the most important changes are to the governance structure. Instead of having 4 of 13 seats nominated by major-airlines trade group A4A, the new version has only one nominated by A4A, a second nominated by the regional airlines, and a third by the cargo airlines (as I recommended in my May 17th testimony). This undercuts the campaign by NBAA and its front group, Alliance for Aviation Across America, urging that we "don't put big airlines in charge" of air traffic control. The bill also adds airports to the list of stakeholders, as I've also recommended. Another section spells out board members' fiduciary duty to the Corporation, and prohibits them from being employed by any aviation organization serving on the board. Very importantly, the bill differs from the White House ATC reform principles in making the stakeholder categories ongoing, rather than applying only to the transition period.

"Having board seats nominated by airports and regional airlines should reduce the perception that small airports and rural states will lose out from corporatization. And other new provisions go further in that direction. A Chapter 907, "General Rights of Access to Airspace, Airports, and Air Traffic Services" includes the following:

• Sec. 90701 "Directs the Secretary to ensure that no user is denied access to airspace on the basis of the user being exempt from charges and fees."
• Sec. 90702 requires the Secretary to determine "whether a proposal would materially reduce access to a public use airport."
• Sec. Sec. 90703 aims to protect contract towers.
• Sec. 90705 provides for the Secretary to review whether any proposal by the Corporation to modify, reduce, decommission, or eliminate an ATC service or navigation facility "would hinder access to a public-use airport or airspace for any class, category, or type of aircraft in operation."
• General aviation gets a stronger exemption from any ATC fees or charges than last year, and so (alas) do business jets.

"A new Chapter 915 provides for congressional oversight of the ATC service provider. It includes:

• Quarterly reports by the DOT Inspector General during the three-year transition period;
• Biennial reports from the Corporation to Congress on the state of ATC services, including charges and fees, safety, interactions with federal agencies, etc.;
• An annual financial report once the Corporation is up and running; and,
• Submission of the Corporation's strategic plans within 15 days after Board approval.

Also, to address concerns expressed by some conservative groups that last year's bill was a "give-away to unions," the bill adds an explicit prohibition on strikes by employees and requires the termination of employees who engage in such activities (Sec. 91109).

"The bill authorizes spending of existing aviation excise tax revenues during the next five fiscal years, showing that as of FY 2021 the Trust Fund would only be paying for the Airport Improvement Program, since the Corporation's ATC fees would cover its capital and operating costs from that point onward. The general fund would cover FAA's remaining operations and the full cost of the Essential Air Service program, since the ATC overflight fees that now provide nearly half of the EAS budget would remain with the Corporation, as they should."

Poole says that the changes show that Committee GOP leadership listened to concerns from small airports, rural states, conservatives, and other members of Congress, but without watering down the basic idea of converting the FAA's Air Traffic Organization into a nonprofit corporation governed by a stakeholder board and funded via charges for ATC services rather appropriations from the federal budget.

(Source: Reason Foundation newsletter. Image from file)

FMI: reason.org/news/show/surface-transportation-news-141