ALPA, APA Urge Congress To Act As Soon As Possible

In separate venues, the leaders of the Allied Pilots Association (APA) and the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) urged Congress to quickly pass a long-term FAA re-authorization bill. The agency has been operating on a series of continuing resolutions since 2007, and has not seen a funding increase since that time.

During his keynote speech at the Dahlman Rose & Company’s Fourth Annual Global Transportation Conference in New York Wednesday, APA President Captain Dave Bates emphasized the need for a “coherent, comprehensive national transportation policy”. During his remarks, Bates urged Congress to approve a multi-year FAA reauthorization bill “as an essential component of a national transportation policy.”

“An FAA reauthorization bill would provide our industry with a greater degree of certainty and predictability, and would represent a commitment to investing in the infrastructure essential to preparing the industry for a more efficient future,” Bates said.

Bates also urged policymakers to reconsider what he characterized as the “tax burden” on the airline industry. “Right now air travel is taxed more heavily than alcohol and tobacco, which make no sense,” he said. “Aren't ‘sin’ taxes designed as disincentives to modify consumer behavior? The last time I checked, the contract of carriage between airlines and passengers didn't include any warnings from the Surgeon General.”

ALPA president Capt. Lee Moak sounded similar themes following a news conference held today by ALPA at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. Moak said passage of an FAA reauthorization bill was necessary to maintain the nation’s high level of aviation safety and end the risk to thousands of aviation employees’ jobs if the current extension is allowed to expire on September 16.

“It is time to get serious and put the safety of aviation in the United States ahead of partisan politics,” Moak said. “We are in critical need of a real bill that will provide the necessary funding to enhance the future safety and efficiency of our aviation system.”

In a news release, Moak said that, in failing to pass a long-term reauthorization, Congress put on hold safety projects and research programs that will help protect all who depend on safe air transportation. Vital initiatives including research into volcanic ash hazards, wake turbulence, alternative fuels, and windshear warning systems and efforts to make flying in icing conditions and operating aircraft on busy runways safer have come to a halt.

Moreover, the lack of stable, long-term FAA funding has stalled critical work to modernize and upgrade the current air traffic control system to increase capacity and enhance efficiency. As a result, the United States may not be well positioned to meet future air transportation demand, and our country risks falling behind Europe and Asia as those regions continue to move ahead. He says the U.S. airline industry may find itself at an economic disadvantage in the global air transport arena. “The Air Line Pilots Association urges Congress to get on track and act now to pass a long-term, multi-year FAA reauthorization bill,” concluded Capt. Moak. “The jobs of thousands of hard-working Americans, the safety of every passenger on every airplane, and the future of the U.S. airline industry depend on it.”

FMI: www.alliedpilots.org, www.alpa.org