ICAS Signs on to Letter to Congress Regarding Air Traffic Control User Fees

LEESBURG, Va. - ICAS this week joined 14 other aviation organizations, led by the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), as a signatory to a letter addressed to the U.S. Congressional Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and its subcommittee on Aviation chaired by Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), respectively. The letter requests more time to carefully review, analyze and debate any proposed legislation changing the governance and funding for air traffic control.

“The governance and funding mechanisms for air traffic control in the United States work well. Changing them to more closely resemble those used in other countries is not something that we should rush into,” said John Cudahy, ICAS president. “ICAS is stepping in to this process to support the general aviation community and the long-term interests of our members.” 

At issue, beyond the length of time to review and debate the FAA reauthorization bill, is that the airline industry has pushed for a new governance and funding model for the air traffic control system of the United States based on systems in other parts of the world. In their letter, the heads of 15 different general aviation organizations state that they have very real and long-standing concerns about foreign air traffic control models, which go well beyond the user fee issue.

“These concerns are based on general aviation pilots’ experiences in foreign systems,” said Cudahy. “Before any changes can be implemented here, there has to be a thoughtful analysis about what those systems might look like in the U.S., and how this legislation could affect the health of the aviation industry.”