The Numbers Game

With its July 4 request to the FAA to impose more delays business and general aviation in the New York metropolitan airspace, the ATA would have us believe that business aviation is 30 percent of operations and thus need to pay more for their use of the system, the FAA has actually calculated that if all business/general aviation flights were grounded it would only yield a seven-to-nine percent gain in capacity, for which they currently pay eight percent. Meanwhile, airlines have been saying they pay for 90 percent of the system but, they actually pay for 77 percent, only getting to the 90 percent if they count charter and fractional flights, which the FAA considers business and general aviation, and foreign airlines, according to the Naitonal Business Aircraft Association.