Airlines vs Biz Aviation : A synopsis of David Esler’s "Are the Airlines Out to Destroy Business Aviation?"
Airlines Bullying BizAv?
As the Airline industry is suffering from record-high oil prices, Business Aviation is flexing its small wings in the sky. Most major airlines would obviously prefer executives and corporate employees aboard luxurious business jets to be sitting in their business and first-class seats. However, that type of competition might not be all that concerns major airlines with their so-called Business Aviation rivals...
Airlines would like to see Business and General Aviation pay their share of the funds required to sustain the air traffic control (ATC) system. More importantly though, it is also said that airlines want to amend ATC's "first come, first served" rule as they believe it's the main factor contributing to the congestion in the air and on the ramp. The airlines have consistently requested priority in the system by appealing to Congress and the FAA, more so now than ever, considering their dismal fiscal condition. Some believe that it is one of the many steps they are taking to crush Business Aviation. "It goes without saying that if the airlines ever were able to have first-come, first-served access overturned in their favor, the result would be catastrophic to business aviation operators and, especially, charter and fractional ownership providers." David Esler
Steve Brown (NBAA's vice president) explained that the "first come, first served" rule has actually been very efficient and it provides more capacity in the system. So even though the rule might not be in the airlines' main scheduling and business plan interest, their claim about it causing congestion is misleading.
The ATA's vice president for communication, David Castelveter, believes that the airlines see Business and General Aviation as "great success stories" and are not out to destroy them. He also refuted allegations that the airlines were pressuring the FAA to get rid of the "first come, first served" policy. Like Caselveter, some say that such assertions are only myths and that it is not in the airlines' interest to "crush" Business or General aviation.
So if the "first come, first served" access is not a systematic factor to the congestion in the air, then what is? And given that congestion stems from the airlines' business plan of over-scheduling, are there other reasons why the airlines might be out to destroy Business Aviation?
Jet at EPPS: Picture I took of a jet parked at EPPS (an FBO in KPDK, Atlanta GA)
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Let them pay their share!
I have no idea how I stumbled on to this page and I'm not even a frequent flier - business or otherwise. But having read this piece, I have to say, that for the first time in my life, I have to side with the airlines. When someone wants to make use of a public infrastructure that has huge costs to set up and maintain, then they had better pay their share. But whether it's gonna happen is questionable.
I want to make an analogy here: take a city road that's used by thousands of single-occupant cars and SUVs (not unlike the business aviation aircraft) and the occasional bus (like the airlines). The single occupant vehicles are taking up far too much road space per person, compared to a bus - so they should be paying proportionately more road tax. Same with the business and private aircraft - if they are going to add to the load of the ATCs, then they had better pay their share. And, just as buses should have priority on the city roads (simply because they carry more passengers who depend on the bus schedule), the airlines should have priority in the skies.
Having said that, it's about time everyone scales back on the amount of flying. If that means the closure and scaling down of more airlines, well that's too bad. The share of the airlines in greenhouse gas emissions is far too high to ignore anymore. The first to go should be the business and private jets - there is something obscene about this whole idea of someone having a whole jet aircraft at his disposal.
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