October 25, 2010
Docket Operations
U.S. Department of Transportation
West Building, Ground Floor
Room W12–140, Routing Symbol M–30
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE.
Washington, DC 20590
RE: Docket # FAA-2010-0831, Airport Improvement Program (AIP): Policy Regarding Access to Airports From Residential Property
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA), the voice of aviation business, is the public policy group representing the interests of aviation businesses before the Congress, federal agencies and state governments. NATA's over 2,000 member companies own, operate and service aircraft and provide for the needs of the traveling public by offering services and products to aircraft operators and others such as fuel sales, aircraft maintenance, parts sales, storage, rental, airline servicing, flight training, Part 135 on-demand air charter, fractional aircraft program management and scheduled commuter operations in smaller aircraft. NATA members are a vital link in the aviation industry providing services to the general public, airlines, general aviation and the military.
NATA member companies have made significant investments in facilities, equipment and operations at federally obligated airports. This investment, which has lead to the United States being the world leader in general aviation utilization, has occurred, in part, due to the protections offered by the federal grant assurances that require federally obligated airports to be operated in a manner that best serves the flying public as a whole. The grant assurances serve to keep airports that receive federal investments in a position that will allow them to be responsive to the needs of the traveling public. NATA’s interest in Residential Through-The-Fence policy stems from our concern that promoting residential development near or adjacent to airports may ultimately hamper the ability of airports to react to changes in aviation traffic, volumes and aircraft.
NATA fully supports the Federal Aviation Administration’s proposed policy on RTTF agreements. We believe that the proposed policy provides an adequate balance between the future needs of airports and existing RTTF access. NATA concurs that future RTTF access agreements at federally obligated airports should be disallowed and that existing RTTF agreements at those airports should be closely and continually evaluated to ensure that they do not negatively impact the utility of the airport.
Michael France
Directory Regulatory Affairs
National Air Transportation Association
mfrance@nata.aero
View in PDF format.
For general press inquiries, contact Shannon Chambers at 703-298-1347 or schambers@nata.aero.
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) has been the voice of aviation business for more than 80 years. Representing nearly 3,700 aviation businesses, NATA’s member companies provide a broad range of services to general aviation, the airlines and the military and NATA serves as the public policy group representing the interests of aviation businesses before Congress and the federal agencies.