"Landing fees could affect GA airport activity"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Landing fees could affect airport activity
By Tim Greathouse
The Enterprise (AL) Ledger


Airport officials are concerned about the possibility that mandatory landing
fees may be imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration and that the fees
would have an adverse effect on airports in cities such as Enterprise.

Landing fees are a set amount charged to a plane owner by an airport for the
privilege of landing his plane at an airport.

Roger Westerling, Enterprise Municipal Airport manager, said if the fees are
imposed by the federal agency, the future of general aviation in Enterprise
would be severely crippled.

"I think it would kill general aviation, which is what we have a lot of in
Enterprise," Westerling said, adding that because of spiraling fuel costs,
air traffic at the Enterprise airport has slowed tremendously.

Landing fees vary between airports, often aligned with supply and demand,
and can be based on factors including weight, number of seats, time of day
and operator class. The money generated by the fees is supposed to be used
to pay for maintenance or expansion of the airport's buildings, runways,
aprons and taxiways.

Westerling said larger and more-congested airports charge premium prices,
such as Canada's Pearson International Airport which for two years has
ranked second in an annual survey of the highest landing fees at global
airports. The Canadian airport charges more than $8,000 U.S. dollars for a
Boeing 747 to land.

Aubrey Gregory, an Averitt Air pilot who for more than two years has ferried
country singer George Jones from major airports across the nation for
frequent trips into Enterprise, said most of the pressure from the FAA stems
from larger carriers who want smaller airports to ante up in an effort to
reduce the exorbitant prices.

"They want general aviation to help pay for these huge fees, and that is not
right," Gregory said during a recent stopover in Enterprise.

In contrast, Westerling said, most smaller airports charge modest daily fees
or waive landing fees to attract and engage in more flight activity.
Westerling said spiraling fuel costs have already cut into recreational
flying in the area, and any more increases could have drastic consequences.

"Flying is expensive enough already," Westerling added. "User fees are
extremely high, and adding these other fees on top of that, I am afraid that
some people would sell their aircrafts. We have just begun doing some great
things here, and we would hate to see something like mandatory fees come
about. We think that would be counterproductive to our airport and
counterproductive to our city."

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