In its effort to pass a $65 billion, four-year Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization plan, the Senate Commerce Committee narrowly sustained the $25 user fee in passing the FAA’s reauthorization legislation –S.1300 The Aviation Investment and Modernization Act of 2007 – despite efforts by Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and John Sununu (R-NH) to eliminate the per-flight-segment user fee.
In a troubling development, Regional Aviation Partners reported only mild interest in its efforts to strengthen the EAS program, receiving a cool response to continue and enforce provisions that would ease the burden of high fuel prices and other cost increases beyond a carrier’s control.
“It is RAP’s consensus that a significant number of power players on the Hill see EAS carriers as ‘milking’ the program for profits,” said the organization in its latest briefing, “and while jet fuel costs have increased substantially in recent years, EAS carriers overall are in good financial condition and in a position to absorb fuel cost increases.”
RAP pointed out that only nine carriers currently provide EAS service to 104 communities, down 40 percent from 2004. It further stated that since May 2001, jet fuel has increased 156 percent ($0.80 in 2001 to $2.05 in May 2007) with substantial spikes during this period to as high as $3.13 per gallon, a 291 percent increase. The impact, it said, is illustrated by a Great Lakes petition to serve three Arizona points. “The jet fuel cost component contained in its proposal increased some $665,000 over that included in the carrier’s winning bid for the communities two years ago with the same level of service.
The committee did, however, adopt a measure by Senator Mark Pryr (D-AR) for reforming EAS to improve marketing efforts at EAS points. It also rejected efforts to raise the passenger facility charge cap to $7.50 which would kibosh plans by Atlanta to raise its PFC from the current $4.50. It requires airlines to allow passengers to deplane after a three-hour delay on the ground and increased the pilot retirement age to 65.
The bill is headed for the Senate Committee on Finance and the National Air Transportation Association reported hearing that the committee may propose an increase in general aviation jet fuel tax to 49 cents per gallon from the current 21.8 cents while phasing out the commercial fuel tax of 4.3 cents per gallon. No date has been set for the committee to take up the FAA reauthorization bill. The move shifts $150 million in taxes per year from airlines to corporate jet and turbojet users and would increase their costs to $500 million annually.