Blakey Says Aviation Funding Changes Must Not Discriminate

FAA Administrator Marion Blakey yesterday said "equitable treatment" for all industry groups must underpin any changes to the way the U.S. aviation system is funded, and she stressed that overseas air navigation agencies are not being considered as a financial model for the FAA.

The challenge is to "design and implement a cost-based financial structure that treats all users of the aviation system fairly," Blakey told a closed-door meeting of aviation industry representatives. "I must emphasize that there should be no attempt to discriminate among users based on the type of activity they engage in," she said.

Blakey said nobody in the government is advocating that all airspace users pay the same charges. "What we do need to do is charge them primarily based on the costs they drive," she said. Blakey said one alternative under discussion is value pricing, "which weighs the relative value of services to the user."

Senior FAA and U.S. Transportation Dept. officials have called for an overhaul of the aviation trust fund when Congress reauthorizes ticket taxes in 2007. The administration wants industry to participate in planning a new funding structure, but consensus could be difficult with airlines complaining they bear too much of the FAA cost burden already and general aviation groups opposed to user fees. The forum is intended to begin "a robust debate about how we all need to meet in the middle," Blakey said.