Ramp Fees

[57FLY'N]

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501261
“Sure it’s annoying to pay ramp fees, but in a flight department's budget, ramp fees account for less than 1% of the cost of operation. Put it this way, your CEO wants to go from TEB to SDL so you put 4 flying hours on your GIV (@~$3000 per hour=$12,000) if you dropped him off in CGZ so that you can avoid the $75 ramp fee in SDL, you might find yourself out of a job.”
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And you might find your self out of a job for your relaxed attitude towards cost control. Sure there are a few operators out there that simply just don’t care how much things cost. But every operation wants to see those in charge atleast making an attempt to control costs. The drop in the bucket attitude just does not fly with me and I question your moral standards that go with it. Please don’t take this as a personal attack, I just think that this kind of attitude does not support a healthy productive flight department.


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Capt-Zman
“I really despise the argument of "go somewhere else" or "You fly a $3000/hr airplane, you can afford it." That is ridiculous. It's not about whether you can afford it or not, it's about providing a service and get reasonably paid for it.”
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Right on the money, and perfectly stated. As originally stated, Lets look for solutions and answers not how much money your flight department can throw around. One question I have is- Is there a way that we can contest a FBO when they are the sole operator at an airport. We are forced to use there facility and it should be our right as users of a public airport to drop pax and leave. Landing fees are justified, but a ramp fee is not. These FBO’s receive Govt money to operate to begin with. They are just doing it because they can get away with it.

 

[Jack Schitt]

Hey, while you're at it can you get a handle on the cost of catering? 20 bucks for a turkey sandwich? 30 bucks for a chicken ceasar salad? WTF?

 

[Pilot Doc]

The LEB fee is largely going toward funding the control tower. The FAA was going to close it unless the airport helped with costs. Dick Karl's article in Flying discusses it this month.

 

[Publishers]

agreement

There will never be universal agreement on this issue. Signature wants to have a good location where perhaps they will be the only FBO and they bid high to get the franchise . Then they have to recoup the money they paid. They come up with endless charges to do so.

Usually there is a corralation between where the airport is, what community controls it, and the end charges for fuel and everything else.

MIA is going to be more expensive than Lake City. You are not paying for the government that goes around both equally. Florida may have a ton more fees as a state than North Dakota.

While an MIA may have anding fees, Lake City probably does not. Some FBO's have 24/7 service with people out there to take care of your passengers any time of day or night. When you pull in, you are using their facilities. They pay for the leasehold. If you just drop off and pick up, you still used the place. In Lake City, still not a big deal while at MIA it might be.

Catering, well that is a horse of a different color. We usede to encourage our people to go to Publix deli for trays which worked fine and are cost effective if there is one near by. Still, that GV that wants a catered breakfast for 14 is going to pay a heavy toll for that, especially if there is not a caterer on the field.

 

[Conquest Driver]

ooh! Dick Carl wrote about it. It must be very important then. I am sure it is another one of his articles filled with how great he is for owning and flying a Turbo Prop.

CD

 

[Khirsah]

It all depends on where you go and what type of service you're expecting. We don't charge landing fees. Then again unless you're extremely lucky, you won't be able to get hangared overnight for anything larger than a BE-90, we probably can't give you a ride to a hotel until the FBO closes normal operations, and it's hit or miss as to whether the extremely shoddy car rental agency we have an agreement with will have anything on our lot and available.

Likewise, we only charge $2.29/gal for Jet-A. I've seen my boss go as low as $1.50/gal for Jet-A for people who are in and out 3 or 4 times a week and always buy fuel. But, because of our low prices we don't have a Jet-A truck, and we're going to have to tow you over to the farm to fill your tanks. That means no quick-turns with fuel.

With us, catering is the same deal. We can get you food that belongs in a Ruth Chris steakhouse, but it's going to cost you. We're also happy to run over to the Kroger across the street and get you 5 boxed lunches and some drinks for $25.

If you want to go over to IND, you'll pay landing fees, high fuel prices, and high catering prices. That's because they're a larger airport with more services to offer, and more in terms of leasing expense for the fbo, and they've got to pay for it somehow.