EAA maintains Aviation Trust Fund income healthy and the
balance is growing; inappropriate distribution is the problem
The nation's general
aviation airports are left out in the cold in the new FAA budget
proposal forwarded by the Bush Administration this week, as funding
for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) has been chopped by more
than 20 percent.
EAA analyzed the budget proposal, finding that the remaining
funds are likely to be used for expansion at large metropolitan
airports. That would leave critical maintenance and improvement
projects at GA airports delayed or canceled.
"Local airport infrastructures are left wanting in this budget
proposal," said Doug Macnair, EAA vice president of government
relations (pictured below, right).
"Again the proposed FAA budget takes money specifically
designated for airport improvements and other capital expenditures,
and uses it to fund general operations, instead of making the hard
decisions on the real problem: out-of-control spending."
That AIP cut is a major
part of the reduced FAA funding total for Fiscal Year 2007, a total
that is down some $600 million from the previous budget. While the
general fund contribution for FAA does not decrease under the
proposal, the money taken from the Aviation Trust Fund - the
funding from the GA fuel tax and airline passenger-ticket taxes
supposedly earmarked to build and enhance aviation infrastructure -
has increased.
Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta has alluded to the
need for aviation user fees in recent statements, demanding the
need for a "stable, predictable revenue stream" for FAA through
other funding methods. In the aftermath of the budget's release, he
cited "general agreement" on a funding method that depends on
revenues collected and services provided.
"The FAA services provide benefit to every citizen of the
country, whether they fly or not, so the general fund is the best
way to equitably fund the operation of the nation's air
infrastructure," Macnair said. "There is no 'general agreement' on
this point except by those who are pushing for a user-fee
system.
"The FAA's funding crisis does not come from a lack of financial
resources from aviation users being poured into the Airport and
Airways Trust Fund. Contrary to what the FAA has been saying about
declining industry funding, the Trust Fund balance is predicted to
increase dramatically between now and 2011, to a predicted $15
billion. The FAA shortfall comes from the White House inadequately
funding the operation of the world's finest air traffic system in
an all-out effort to reduce the burgeoning federal deficit.
Instead, the White House budget proposal robs the Airport
Improvement Program to pay for the expense of running the air
traffic system. And general aviation is the loser."
Macnair added that EAA also has concerns about additional
funding earmarked for the Next Generation Air Transportation System
(NGATS), which has the potential to impose additional economic and
regulatory burdens on aircraft owners. This plan calls for
potential new equipment requirements such as Automated Dependent
Surveillance (ADS-B), which would provide great benefits such as
making weather and air traffic information available in the
cockpit.
However, there is a
disturbing trend in the NGATS planning toward mandatory
installation of these new technologies to use the national airspace
system. That would carry a significant cost burden and be a severe
detriment to non-electrically supported aircraft and other aircraft
not capable of supporting such technologies.
"EAA members are innovators who have always been among the first
to develop, embrace and use the latest technology," Macnair
said.
"But careening headlong into such a program, without considering
its ramifications on the recreational aviation community as a
whole, could leave many thousands of aircraft owners without access
to major parts of the nation's airspace."
EAA will continue to engage with legislators and federal
officials to defend its members against measures that would lessen
access to flying or add burdensome regulations.