FAA Funding: Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

I was on a recent Delta flight from the west coast to Atlanta the other day.  The flight was delayed in arrival due to heavy weather in Atlanta.  No surprise.  Anybody who flies on the US east coast in the summer is going to get delays for two reasons: Volume and Weather.

The airlines however, have been using their marketing departments to blame some of the delays on General Aviation traffic.    Part of this is a spam effort to get public support for forcing General Aviation to pay higher airport user fees.   Specifically to force the pending FAA funding bill to put more burden on the GA community.

I'm a member of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).   I also am a gold medallion customer of Delta Airlines.   I have received the emails from Delta encouraging airline support. I have also heard Delta captains encourage support for Delta's position from the cockpit PA system.   I myself disagree with their position.   

I view it as a disinformation campaign geared toward getting the general aviation community to take on airline cost elements.    In Atlanta, at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport (KATL),  there were 980,000 take offs and landings in 2006.  According to the FAA,  only 10,000 of those were General Aviation aircraft.  Thats slightly more than 1 percent.  No burden there that I can see.

Apparently other frequent flyers also disagree with the airlines.   Over 3000 Delta medallion customers responded directly to Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein arguing against the Delta position.   

I am not as interested in the political positioning as making sure both voices are heard.  Delta uses their inflight magazine, their crew and their marketing department to voice the airlines position. As a passenger with at least some knowledge of both sides,  I don't think its appropriate for any airline to spam the passenger base any more than I would like listening to political party ads on the in flight entertainment system. (gawd, I hope I didn't just give somebody a bad idea...)

Whats needed is a fair and well funded FAA funding bill that covers both General Aviation and the airlines.

clipped from www.aopa.org More than 3,000 people set Delta straight Some of Delta Air Lines' best customers are telling corporate bigwigs why they are wrong. More than 3,000 so far have responded to the recent e-mail broadside, which blamed airline delays on general aviation and the current FAA funding system. "The scheduled carriers' own hub-and-spoke route system is the rotten apple in this barrel," wrote an Arkansas pilot. "When you and your Air Transport Association colleagues insist on figuratively cramming 16 lanes of traffic into a four-lane road two or three times a day, what do you expect will happen?" Delta had sent messages to its frequent fliers, claiming that the current tax system is unfair to the airlines, and that general aviation is somehow responsible for traffic delays. And this week an AOPA member alerted the association that the Delta captain on his recent flight encouraged first-class passengers to contact their legislators and support the airlines' position. Here's the truth: Most airline delays are due to the airlines' own scheduling practices and weather. So says the Department of Transportation. General aviation flights are less than 4 percent of the traffic at the nation's 10 busiest airports. Air traffic control modernization (NextGen) will improve things, but it's not a panacea. It can't make thunderstorms disappear, nor allow two airliners to land simultaneously on the same runway. GA is willing to help pay for NextGen and has accepted the fuel tax increases in the House FAA funding bill (H.R.2881) to do so. The airlines are demanding NextGen but with a tax decrease for themselves. AOPA had originally asked members to e-mail Delta Air Lines CEO Gerald Grinstein, but some e-mails bounced back. You can help set the record straight by e-mailing Delta customer service.

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