"Basically, the Senate bill calling for the $25 per flight charge would put our smaller carriers out of business," said Regional Airline Association Vice President Faye Malarkey, who indicated the members and staff will be working tirelessly to overturn that provisions. "Our members are really exercised about this."
RAA is currently working on quantifying the impact of the various changes the Senate bill proposes. "We are shocked at the deleterious  impact this would have on our industry," she said, "and that is why we will be working around the clock to tell the Senate how harmful this will be."
The organization does favor some provisions including the full funding of the Essential Air Service program. RAA will, however, be working to restore Section 402 calling for DOT to cover significant cost increases to operations that are beyond the carrier's control. The organization particularly likes provisions calling for the consolidation and streamlining of facilities. "Our members, along with the entire airline industry, have worked very hard to bring down costs and we have not seen a corresponding effort in the public sector," said Malarkey. "We think that streamlining and consolidation would help that." While stopping short of supporting privatization, such as allowing private ownership of navigational facilities around airports as called for in the bill, Malarkey did point out that the Contract Tower Program has increased efficiency, maintained the safety standards and reduced costs.

EAS Reform
With the aim of reducing or eliminating community dependence on subsidized air service, industry interests and congressional staff continue to discuss “out of the box” reforms that have potential to boost boardings at small communities and stimulate added carrier (both network and commuter) participation in the EAS program. Among the reforms Regional Aviation Partners has proposed is the concept of providing network and commuter carriers with varying levels of incentives, including but not limited to, excise (jet fuel) tax relief based on their level of participation in the EAS program.
RAP reported that the proposed Senate bill “allows [but does not require]” the DOT to provide EAS carriers with financial incentives and longer-term contracts in order to retain current EAS operators and peak interest from other carriers. RAP also reported that the bill extends the final order provided under Section 409 (Determination of Mileage – Most Commonly Used Route) of Vision 100 until September 30, 2011. However, it does not make the “most common route” method either permanent nor applicable program wide. The provision under this proposal only maintains the existing three communities eligible under the current provision with no opportunity for new communities to benefit from the provision.
“The premise behind our reform proposal is that additional commuter carrier involvement would benefit small communities through greater competition for EAS contracts, providing increased service and opportunity, especially in those areas of the country where only one or two EAS carriers exist,” said Regional Aviation Partners in its recent newsletter. "Additionally, network carrier participation could spur additional code sharing opportunities for commuters and potentially have the effect of reducing fares for passengers flying from an EAS community to a location beyond the hub or from a location beyond the hub to an EAS community. Network carrier typically control passenger ticket prices beyond the hub airport as part of a pro-rate agreement with commuter carriers.”
The recent senate bill calls for code sharing in EAS markets, something mainline carriers have resisted in the past, by seeking to re-introduce Section 406 (Code Share Pilot Program). Since this provision was adopted in Vision 100, only a small number of EAS communities indicated an interest in the program and legacy carriers stated their opposition to a mandatory code sharing program, said RAP. Related Story