User Fees for General Aviation are off the table – for now.
A February 1 press release issued by the National Business Aviation Association says: “When it comes to the long-standing battle over user fees, it appears that today, we have reached an important and welcome milestone,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “The fact that user fees are not part of the President’s 2011 budget proposal shows the tremendous progress we have made over the past year.”
It looks like we won the battle! But, have we won the war? Can we go home now?
The press release goes on to say:
Despite the removal of user fees from the Administration’s FY2011 budget, Bolen said that ongoing vigilance and grassroots mobilization by NBAA’s Members would be needed to ensure that Washington policymakers continue to understand the industry’s support for helping to fund aviation modernization through fuel taxes. “Whether or not this is an indication of a permanent policy shift on user fees, or a one-time development remains to be determined,” Bolen said. “What we do know for certain is that our industry must continue to make its voice heard on this and other issues.”
Knowing how Washington, D.C. works and understanding the power of lobbyists, I would say that we can breathe a sigh of relief but we cannot let up. Mr. Bolen says that we must continue to make our voices heard and I agree. In some ways, the fight will never be over because we as an industry must communicate our value to the politicians and media, but more importantly, to those people who write our paychecks every week – the travelers.
How do we do make our voices heard? The power of social media, where millions can speak for themselves, can drown out the voice of the lobbyist and the campaign contributions that buy that voice. It is a new day and the message is no longer bought, sold or owned by any one person or organization.
I commend the NBAA, AOPA, NATA, and EAA, who represent over a million aviators in this country, for mobilizing their constituents to speak out and be heard by both their representatives in Congress and by the media.
This quote recently posted on AOPA’s site really captures the essence of the battle:
So often we think we have got to make a difference and be a big dog. Let us just try to be little fleas biting. Enough fleas biting strategically can make a big dog very uncomfortable.
– Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund
As USA Today and other mainstream media covered the issues of aviation with a serious bias in favor of the Airline Industry and the Air Transport Association, the voices of individuals who disagreed with the bias were raised and heard. As I viewed the comments on these articles, they were most always overwhelmingly in favor of general aviation. Mainstream media has come to the realization that they must allow the people to speak or be rendered irrelevant.
The airlines need to go back to the sidelines and figure out how they are going to create value in this economy versus trying to blame their problems on everyone else, including General Aviation.
General Aviation, as a way of travel, is part of what makes this country great. The freedom to go by air to meet for business, see family, or just have fun is social and creates value in this economy by connecting people in a time-saving and stress free manner.
So, if the “Big Dogs” in D.C. start acting up again, let’s be prepared to bite strategically again.
