I wrote this post for another site I use called "The FAA Follies". On that site, we expose the lunacy that has overtaken the Federal Aviation Administration.
Like so much of the federal government, our professional safety organization has been trashed by the Bush Administration. Our belief is that the safety of the flying public is reduced, and of course we all know how efficient and enjoyable flying has become under the Bush regime.
This post, and part II (I'l publish it later) expose how the FAA's Administrator, Marion Blakey, is essentially a lobbyist for the airlines these days. I hope you enjoy it.
Read these quotes and tell me if you think they sound familiar:
From United Airlines' "Hemispheres" magazine:
While commercial airlines, such as United, now account for about 8,000 aircraft, private- and corporate-jet aircraft account for more than twice that number. Although corporate jets require the same ATC resources as large commercial airliners, the tax structure Congress put in place more than three decades ago does not distribute the costs of these resources equally.
For example, the passengers aboard a commercial Boeing 737 traveling between Chicago and New York may collectively pay $1,356 toward their use of the ATC system, but a smaller corporate jet may pay just $70 for the same services.
Recognizing the reality of our changed aviation landscape is long overdue. Fixing the ATC’s unfair funding system will help end commercial passengers’ subsidy of corporate jets and also will help the FAA build the next-generation ATC system that the current U.S. aviation environment requires.
From Northwest Airlines NWA World Traveler:
The situation is illustrated with a few simple numbers: In 1970, when the system was last overhauled, there were about 2,500 commercial airliners and 1,800 corporate aircraft. Today, the number of commercial aircraft has more than tripled to 8,000, but the number of corporate aircraft has increased a stunning amount, to nearly 18,000.
Our ATC system can't keep up with numbers like these, nor with forecasts. The FAA predicts that in the next 10 years, 10,000 more corporate aircraft will be built, and they estimate that U.S. air traffic will triple by 2025. If the system is not modernized, flight delays may increase by as much as 62 percent in just the next seven years.
From Continental:
...The U.S. air traffic control (ATC) system, which manages the flow of these aircraft, is one of the safest in the world and has served the country well for decades.
However, demand for aviation has never been higher, and it continues to grow. Unfortunately, the infrastructure of our ATC system has not kept pace with this growth and is stretched beyond capacity, as evidenced by increased congestion and delays. The future of our industry depends on a modern air traffic control system that can safely and efficiently accommodate future demand and that will be adequately funded with a cost-based user-funded system.
...Today’s funding formula fails to link the ATC system’s cost with the price it charges users. For years, commercial airlines and their passengers have been subsidizing corporate and private jets, which have grown in number from 1,800 in 1970 to 18,000 in 2007.
From US Air (and being lectured on transportation needs is particularly rich coming from Doug Parker, who's a known drunk driver- obviously someone who deeply cares about the safety of others):
In addition to modernizing our ATC network, the other main goal of Smart Skies is to change the way we finance this system.
The current funding structure for the ATC system was implemented in 1970. At that time, the majority of airplanes in the nation’s airways were commercial airliners. The landscape has changed dramatically since that time; for example there’s been a sharp increase in private jet aircraft, most of which are used for business purposes, which has grown from about 1,800 aircraft in 1970 to nearly 18,000 aircraft today. In contrast, commercial airlines, including US Airways, account for about 8,000 aircraft today.
While private and corporate jet aircraft require the same ATC resources as commercial airplanes, the tax structure that Congress implemented nearly 40 years ago does not distribute the costs for these resources equally. Airlines and their passengers pay the lion’s share of the costs to fund and maintain the nation’s ATC system. For example, a US Airways flight on a 193-passenger Boeing 757 traveling between Phoenix and Dallas might contribute $1,950 in taxes toward the use of the ATC system, while a smaller corporate jet flying the same route and using the same resources would contribute only $83.
American Airlines chimes in:
The system by which ATC activities are funded is just as outdated as ATC’s technology. We support a common-sense approach that would allocate costs to all ATC system users in proportion to the services they consume. The money collected would be used to sustain and improve the ATC system for everyone. Makes sense, right? Unfortunately, the business-aviation community — the companies and individuals operating private jets — are vigorously opposing this idea, because under the current system, they are getting a nearly free ride.
It’s important to understand that a small business jet carrying a few people poses the same challenge to ATC as the large aircraft you’re sitting in right now. To a beacon, a satellite, and a computer, a blip is a blip, and ATC’s costs are determined by the number of blips being managed. Under the current system, airlines and their customers use about two-thirds of the ATC system’s services, but pay (through taxes on tickets, fuel, and other things) 94 percent of the cost...
Now, all these quotes sound the same because all these airlines are members of the "Smart Skies", which is a nifty-sounding nickname of a campaign by the the Air Transport Association, which is basically all of the commercial, for-profit passenger and cargo airlines in the United States.
The campaign is intended to put political pressure onto Congress to change the FAA's funding mechanism. The objective is to move as much of the cost as possible off of the airlines and onto the other users of the National Airspace System.
Okay, fine, an industry is allowed to lobby Congress. The exact makeup of the taxes used to fund the system is a political decision. The FAA's proper role isn't to mess around with that- we should stay out of politics and let Congress and the President decide- and instead is to simply and professionally run the best ATC and aviation system we can, right?
Then what's up with these quotes?
And while the restof the world has their action plan in high gear, we risk getting bogged down in a debate over who’s going to pick up the tab. Truth be told, right now, the passenger in the middle seat is footing the lion’s share of the bill for operation of the system. The commercial traveler is paying 95 percent of the cost but imposing only 73 percent of the requirements.
Truth be told, right now, the passenger in the middle seat is footing the lion’s share of the bill for operating the system. The folks back home buying airline tickets are paying 95 percent of the cost but imposing only 73 percent of the requirements.
Imagine a restaurant that required you to pick up the tab for the people sitting at the next table. It’s not as farfetched as it sounds. It happens in our skies every day.
A seat on a commercial jetliner is the most heavily taxed spot in all of aviation. General aviation represents 16 percent of the cost to operate the system, yet it currently pays only 3 percent. Everyday passengers shouldn’t have to pick up the tab for a CEO flying across the country in a private jet.
...
We need a revenue stream that’s reliable and equitable, where all users pay their fair share. The hybrid financing system we put on the table last month is balanced, is fair, and it delivers on all these counts.
This legislation isbalanced and fair, yet ambitious at its core. Let me start on the topic everyone's been obsessed with for months. Commercial users will pay their fair share of air traffic costs through user fees.
Based on the cost allocation we're releasing today, we know that commercial users and their passengers pay over 95 percent of the Trust Fund's taxes but account for only about 73 percent of the costs of the air traffic system. We also know that there are growing levels of high-end general aviation activity that impose similar costs on the FAA in the en route, high-altitude environment.
The new reauthorizationproposal suggests a hybrid funding mechanism that distributes more fairly and equitably the costs to operate the system. The airlines, passengers and other commercial uses pay the lion’s share of the taxes today — more than 95 percent — while accounting for less than 73 percent of the air traffic system’s costs. High-end general aviation aircraft impose similar costs on the FAA in the en route, high-altitude environment but currently pay far less into the system than commercial users for comparable flights. The new funding mechanism addresses this inequity.
Those later quotes are from FAA Administrator Marion Blakey. They sound awfully close to the "talking points" that the industry lobbyists came up with, don't they?
The sad fact is that in America today, under the Bush Administration, the big corporations have all the swing. They have the money, they have the power. They have Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and George Bush (in order of power) running the nation, holding secret meetings in the White House to dictate policy, and it's certainly not for the benefit of the average Joe Taxpayer.
Rest assured, the big airlines are NOT pushing for a reduction in their taxes and fees so they can sell cheaper tickets to the flying public. They have massive computer programs that are designed to squeeze every possible penny out of us in airfares, and you can bet that just like in the past, if their taxes go down they'll simply jack the price of a ticket up the same amount- and pocket the difference.
What's so pathetic is that the FAA Administrator, who's supposed to be a non-partisan, non-political professional, is carrying the water of these big corporations. The White House went out and instead of getting a person with aviation experience, hired a PR flack to run the FAA.
So instead of focussing on doing a professional job managing the agency, they've got Marion Blakey running around putting out press releases and essentially sucking up to the giant corporations, the airlines.
It's not about the people anymore, it's about the airlines and their profits.
Oh, and those quotes above? A lot of them are lies; the ATA is playing games with the numbers, comparing apples and oranges. They say that 95% of the fees are paid by their membership, but when they talk about costs it turns out they didn't count their cargo carriers. What's more, the vast majority of traffic management is to handle ATA member traffic- not to mention a large part of controllers' jobs in busy areas and airports is simply to manage the airlines.
The much-maligned bizjets? Well, since they don't generally fly in and out of the jammed up, monster-delay airports, they don't account for nearly as much of the costs of the FAA's ATC system as the airlines claim. For example, out here in Seattle Center, we regularly "meter" the traffic into Sea-Tac airport, which is almost all commercial airlines. We almost never have to meter for Boeing Field, which is almost all general aviation and bizjets.
So SEA eats up a lot more of our time and costs than BFI does- but you don't see the Administrator pointing that out, or the ATA admitting it.
The good news is that the government workers- the air traffic controllers and technicians and safety inspectors and yes, even a lot of the supervisors and managers and staff folks in the FAA- aren't playing political games like Marion Blakey is.
They're trying to ensure that the flying public is kept safe, and that the air traffic control system continues to be about the safe, orderly, and expeditious movement of aircraft in the United States.
The political flacks? They're just interfering in that mission.