Jim Coyne Says Industry Is Being 'Stonewalled'

NATA president James K. Coyne testified Tuesday before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Aviation, which conducted a Field Hearing at Signature Flight Support at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to examine re-opening the airport to general aviation operations. The hearing was chaired by Rep. John Mica (R-FL).

"Since 9/11 we have done in good faith everything requested of us by the FAA and the TSA to return non-scheduled operations back to DCA, and all we have gotten in return is broken promises," stated Coyne in his prepared testimony. "We are seeking fair and equitable access to the nation's capital airport for non-scheduled charter operators. The airlines-commercial operators-have that access, so it seems that what we are dealing with here is discrimination against one class of commercial operators-charter operators. And that simply is not fair."

Coyne was one of a panel of witnesses that included Acting TSA Administrator Adm. David Stone. In response to repeated questions directed at Stone from members of the Subcommittee about why the TSA had not yet developed a plan for general aviation access into DCA, Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) stated, "We keep getting the same stale answers from the TSA and they don't make any sense. We're not going to take it anymore."
 
"We have said all along that we would comply with any reasonable security measures that would allow us to have access into DCA," stressed Coyne. "But we can't comply with them if we don't know what they are. It remains unclear why industry and Congress continue to be stonewalled by the upper levels of this government that have decision-making authority over DCA."

"If we don't get a response from TSA within a reasonable amount of time, there will be another hearing soon," said Rep. Mica in concluding the hearing.

FMI: www.nata-online.org