Airport Users Fight Potential City’s Contract With ADS-B Stalker, Vector

The community surrounding Oregon’s Salem-Willamette Valley Airport (SLE) has spoken out after city officials unanimously voted to impose landing fees during a March 10 meeting. Though one might assume that the fees themselves are the most annoying part of the decision, locals have had more of a problem with the company intended to collect them: Vector.

Landing fees at Salem Airport have been up in the air for a while now, especially with the reintroduction of commercial air service in October 2023 that brought in new operating costs. The board was not prepared to tackle the jump in expenses and was forced to begin pulling from the city’s general fund.

City officials came up with several methods to cut costs, one of which was to shut down the airport’s secondary runway. Salem’s runway 16/34 is not eligible for FAA funding under the AIP program and is nearing an unusable condition. So, rather than spending millions of dollars to repair it, Salem officials hope to rip it out and use the space for commercial development.

“We’ve already gotten a lot of heat for investing in commercial air service… and that is a pittance compared to what it would cost to maintain this runway. This is not even a question for me,” claimed City Councilor Vannessa Nordyke.

While the runway’s future remains undecided, the city has gone ahead with its other cost-cutting measure: landing and parking fees. Salem city councilors recently approved the fees in a unanimous vote and will begin collecting $3/1000 lb per landing for every aircraft that weighs over 7,000 lbs gross.

Landing fees are not necessarily uncommon, so the community doesn’t have much of a foundation to push back. However, Salem Airport has earned substantial criticism over its planned contract with Vector Airport Systems for fee collection.

Unlike other fields that utilize their FBOs or drop boxes, Vector uses aircraft’s ADS-B data to track landings and bill pilots. This is seen by many as not only an invasion of privacy, but also a twisted method to take advantage of technology that was originally intended to be a safety aid. The city has openly advocated for Vector but has yet to sign a contract.

FMI: www.cityofsalem.net