Smartskies

[BOOZENEWS]

Airlines are considered a national asset. Part of the transportation system that is protected by the Railway Labor act. They haul U.S. mail too.

Then why the hell were they deregulated in 1978. If they are so important why doesn't congress reregulate them.


Can't have it both ways.

As for the right to strike, this ought to be take all the way up to the supreme court sooner rather than later. The union leaders and many (not all) rank and file airline pilots have no stones.

 

[Alamanach]

You want fair?...

No, I want money. "Fair" is a specious idea we teach to children in the course of making them morally upright. There's no such thing as "fair".

Airlines themselves provide the perfect example. Does a first-class seat really entail three times the costs of an economy seat? Of course not. But in any business, the price you charge has nothing to do with the costs you incur; the price you charge is dependent only on what the customer is willing to pay. If you can get three times the money out of him for only, say, 1.5 times the cost, go for it. You make your money where you can.

This stupid "fair share" argument for user fees completely ignores this. The airlines pay somewhat more for ATC services (and it's not an outlandish amount more, by the way) because they need it more. A GA pilot can simply choose not to fly. A corporate passenger can leave the GV at home and fly first class once in a while. Those guys have choices. But an airline can't choose not to fly; flying is the only thing an airline does. The airlines are cornered, and that's why they pay a little more. If we make it "fair", we're going to choke off revenue and have fewer funds for ATC.

Beware of this push for user fees. All it is is an attempt to strangle GA in an attempt to stop the VLJ air taxi services.

 

[finnjl]

check your facts corporate aviation pays much more in fuel taxes, about 29 times more than the airlines. The airlines get a huge tax break in fuel taxes. By the way the airlines do not pay a penny out of their pocket in taxes. It is a very small fee that the passengers pay on the price of a ticket. It is collected by the airlines and transferred to the general aviation fund. Do not think for one minute that airlines would reduce tickets by 3 dollars per segment if congress changes the taxing scheme. As a matter of fact I think the airlines should pay the same amount of taxes on jet fuel as everybody else does. You do not hear the airline type people letting that information out to the public. I am kind of tired of the airlines and all their crying all the time. They have so many breaks it is unreal. So if you really think about it the passenger in the corporate jet pays much more per person per gallon of Jet A into the general aviation fund than the passengers on the airline anyday based soley on the cost of fuel.

 

[DGdaPilot]

My fear is that this is gonna be written by someone with no clue between the differences of fracs, GA, and airlines. New students and weekend warriors are gonna be choked out.

 

[time builder]

check your facts corporate aviation pays much more in fuel taxes, about 29 times more than the airlines. The airlines get a huge tax break in fuel taxes.

Exactly. For this reason, my company gets most of its fuel from DHL and UPS fueling contracts, because if they don't, they'll pay $2 more per gallon at the FBO.

While I agree that Corporate Aviation is a luxury, I do think they're paying enough in fuel tax to be considered their "fair share."

On the other hand, if the motivation is to discourage people from using personal transportation, and promote mass transit to save fuel consumption and decrease pollution, I'll go for that.