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A stellar lineup of features and attractions
is coming to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2007, and hundreds of thousands of
aviation enthusiasts attending next week’s event will leave knowing that
they had experienced “The World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration.”
However, weighty discussions throughout the week on the threat of user
fees and the future of general aviation in the U.S. will also remind EAA
members that AirVenture is their annual convention, where the serious
business of protecting, preserving, and advancing aviation takes place.
“Because the EAA community is made up of
aviation’s most passionate and active participants, it possesses the
credibility, respect, and influence to bring Washington to Oshkosh,”
said EAA President and AirVenture Chairman Tom Poberezny. “Representatives
of all the principal elements of the user fee issue - the House, the
Senate, the Administration, and the general aviation industry - are coming
to AirVenture to discuss this issue with our members.”
The schedule of AirVenture meetings and
events focusing on user fees includes the following:
- Wednesday, July 25, 11:30 a.m. - NATCA
Pavilion
EAA President Tom Poberezny and leaders from AOPA, GAMA and NBAA will
provide the GA perspective on user fees.
- Thursday, July 26, 11:30 a.m. - Honda
Pavilion
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey will provide the Administration’s
view on aviation finance reform.
- Saturday, July 28, 11:30 a.m. - Sporty’s
Pavilion
Members of the U.S. House Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee on
Aviation will discuss the status of FAA finance legislation and answer
your questions about user fees.
- Saturday, July 28
Throughout the day and in various locations on the AirVenture grounds,
key lawmakers will make appearances and discuss the issue with
members.
The panel presentations and discussions at
this year’s AirVenture will build on an open-forum format that GA
community leaders conducted here last year as well as the ensuing
developments since.
During last year’s open-forum panel, GA
leaders discussed and rebutted rhetoric coming from the major airlines and
the FAA asserting the need for a new system of user fees - weighted
disproportionately on general aviation - to sustain federal aviation
services and to fund modernization of the nation’s air-traffic control
system.
Since then, supporters of user fees have
ramped up the pressure, running print and television ads blaming general
aviation for delays in scheduled airline service. The ads instigated stern
disagreement not only on this point but also on GA’s cost and
contribution to the operation of the air transportation system.
As the debate continued in the media, it
also resonated in the halls of Capitol Hill. Three versions of FAA budget
reauthorization have emerged: The FAA’s proposed budget, a Senate bill,
and a House bill. While the FAA’s proposal and the Senate version
currently include terms for implementing new user fees, the House version
does not.
The process will continue with floor debate
in Congress beginning in September 2007 and the work of a joint conference
committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions.
EAA and other general-aviation groups are
voicing support of the House bill, HR 2881. They assert that general
aviation already pays fuel taxes and other fees to cover its share of an
air traffic system designed primarily for the airlines. They further
contend that the current funding system, based largely on fuel taxes,
provides ample revenue for modernization, and that user fees would not
enhance safety or improve services for aviation as a whole.
“When we look at examples from other
parts of the world such as Europe and Australia, we see that, once in
place, even narrowly defined user-fee structures eventually expand their
reach. Governments can’t resist the temptation to employ such a
revenue-collecting device to more areas of aviation activity,” Poberezny
said.
“As the lawmaking process involving user
fees moves into the final stretch, the EAA community is mobilizing to push
hard for the right solution, as outlined in the House bill. EAA AirVenture
will serve as a launch pad for this concerted effort.”
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