RAP Calls for Exemption of Small Carriers for Modernization Fee

Regional Aviation Partners is calling on Congress to exempt small airlines operating aircraft of 10-30 seats from the Senate-proposed $25 modernization fee set to fund the NextGen Air Traffic Control System. The fee, said RAP, would lead to the elimination of both subsidized and unsubsidized air service to small communities. The fee would add $50,000, or a 444 percent increase in the cost of serving Great Lake’s Quincy-St. Louis market, from the proposal it made to DOT to replace Regionsair when it was grounded earlier this year. The contract it was awarded is for two years and in not ammendable under current rules unless Great Lakes files to leave the market. Similarly, costs for Big Sky’s new Delta Connection service in upstate New York would rise 155 percent, adding $75,000 on what it would have expected to pay under the current fuel tax.