“The federal government has taken billions of dollars from the taxes and fees paid by airline passengers every time they fly and awarded it to small airports used mainly by private pilots and globe-trotting corporate executives.” That was the opening line in an Associated Press story that was reprinted widely in newspapers and distributed online this week. General aviation advocates did get a say. “Not all aircraft are the same nor do they impose the same costs on the system,” Ed Bolen, president of the National Business Aviation Association, told the AP. “If we were grounded tomorrow, the system would cost the same.” But as the story makes clear, the number of people who fly on airlines far exceeds the number who utilize GA airports.
“Critics question why families shlepping through Logan International Airport should pay for an instrument landing system in Pittsfield [Mass.] that allows wealthy clients of the nearby Canyon Ranch Spa to land in bad weather,” reported Boston News 7.
