Aircraft companies and owners at Van Nuys Airport face a jump in the fee charged to pump fuel into their planes in a proposal going before the Los Angeles World Airports Board. The jet fuel flowage fee of 3 cents would rise by 3 cents per gallon beginning July 1 for each year through 2010 and then go up 2 cents per gallon in 2011 for a total of 11 cents per gallon. Aviation gas used in piston planes would rise a penny a year in the same period. The money collected by the airport agency does not specifically benefit Van Nuys, however; instead it goes into the LAWA general fund to benefit the four airports it operates Van Nuys, Los Angeles International, Ontario and Palmdale. In 2007, the agency received $705,000 from the flowage fee. The aviation committee of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association sent a letter to LAWA in opposition to the amount of the increase and recommended instead hiking the cost to 6 cents for both jet fuel and aviation gas. The committee does not want to put a cap on the revenue going to LAWA, just the rate charged to aircraft owners, said Co-chairman Robert Rodine. “Keep it 6 cents and you take the gravy from all the additional sales,” said Rodine who is a consultant with clients in the aviation industry. Attempts to reach a representative of LAWA were not successful. The fee has been collected at the airport since 1979, and ranks among the lowest collected nationwide. By bumping the fee to 6 cents a gallon, Van Nuys would be in the same range as Long Beach Airport (6 cents) and Bob Hope Airport in Burbank (5 cents) although both those airfields have fewer general aviation flights. When aircraft charter firms buy gas and assess the fee, the cost can be passed along to the passengers paying for the flight. That is not the case for the owners of the propeller planes who fly themselves for recreation or business reasons or both. The new fee structure proposed by LAWA gives a break to the piston owners because the increase was lower, said Elliot Sanders, president of the Van Nuys Propeller Aircraft Association. While willing to pay a higher fee as long as it is fair, the cost can curtail flying because the piston owner must absorb the cost because they are the end user, Sanders said. “It could begin to raise the cost of flying so that it slows down the amount of flying done,” Sanders added. Under Federal Aviation Administration regulations, when LAWA assesses a fee not related to a service there can be no differentiation between classes of aircraft. The proposed fee structure suggested by the VICA committee wasn’t meant to penalize piston owners but to meet that regulation, Rodine said. If piston operators are given a lower fee, that could be seen as discriminatory, Rodine said. At the rate proposed by LAWA, the agency would collect $9.1 million in fuel fee revenues over a three-year period. Under the VICA proposal, the agency collects $6.1 million. Burbank Airport Brings In Bucks The Bob Hope Airport contributes $3.9 billion to the economy, according to a study released by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. The study by consulting firm Unison-Maximus and UCG Associates used 2006 economic data and a survey of 1,200 passengers. The Burbank airfield generates 2,400 jobs at the airport itself and another 34,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the broader economy. Taxes coming from the airport bring in $260 million for the state and $125.8 million for local governments. The study also found that passengers using the airport are well-educated and affluent and gave it the highest rating for convenience when compared to Los Angeles International, Long Beach, Ontario International and John Wayne airports. Passengers focused on the ease of access, check-in and security check-in, the study found. “More people are flying for pleasure and personal reasons, and more businesses depend on airport activity now,” said Airport Authority President Carl Povilaitis. “The airport’s place in the economic vitality of the region has never been more important. The passenger survey includes demographic information about the respondents, their opinions about airport services and facilities, their spending habits and purpose for traveling.
