NATA News

All modes of transportation were discussed, including general aviation (GA). Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) spoke out of concern for the Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) and its effects on GA. Senator Brownback stressed that the LASP in its current form would hinder the GA industry and would not be beneficial for security in this sector of the aviation industry.

Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-WV) said, "Both Congress and the administration must balance important but competing needs, maintaining an efficient flow of commerce while ensuring no terrorists can enter our country by land, sea, or air. I understand this balance, and I am committed to doing all we can in Congress to make sure it is achieved."

To view witness testimony or read more information on the hearing, please click here.

NATA continued its free webinar series in December with a presentation on Airport Minimum Standards by NATA Director of Regulatory Affairs Michael France. The webinar, which lasted an hour and involved over 80 registered participants, included the following topics:

• AIP Program and Federal Grant Assurances
• General Contents of Minimum Standards
• Development of Minimum Standards
• Airport Sponsors Rights

There was a question-and-answer period at the end of the presentation. NATA's webinar series is part of the association's dedication to providing its members, and the industry in general, with the latest information on topics that affect their business. Both a video of the webinar and a copy of the presentation are available by clicking here.

The next webinar in NATA's series is scheduled for January 5, 2010, and will cover providing comments on the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Part 145 Repair Station Security Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

Many of you play a very important role in guaranteeing ramp safety. One key way to help improve the accident and incident rate is through a sustained campaign of education and training. NATA's Safety 1st, in cooperation with the FAA, has created a ramp safety DVD to foster safety awareness and communication between pilots and line personnel. NATA has taken this one step further and is making the video available, free, to the industry online.

Pilots and line service personnel can learn nearly 25 hand signals that foster better understanding and encourage everyone to work together to protect aircraft on the ramp. Many veteran pilots and line personnel have previewed this material and found that there were a number of important and highly useful hand signals they were unfamiliar with but now have learned due to this training. Do you know them all? Does your line staff consistently and professionally communicate using these standardized signals and best practices?

This NPRM would require any repair station, foreign or domestic, certificated under 14 CFR Part 145 to carry out a standard security program (SSP) consisting of:

• Access controls for the facility, aircraft and/or aircraft components
• Measures for identifying individuals with access to the facility, aircraft and/or aircraft components
• Procedures for challenging unauthorized individuals
• Security awareness training for employees
• The name of the facility's designated security coordinator
• A contingency plan
• The means to verify employee background information

NATA and the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) have partnered to produce a comment tool to assist their members in preparing and submitting comments on the NPRM to the TSA. The comment tool provides instructions on formatting and submitting official comments to the TSA along with a detailed review of specific areas of the NPRM on which members may want to comment.

The member comment tool is an invaluable resource for repair stations wishing to provide input to the TSA on the content and effects of this rulemaking. The tool is available for download here.

NATA and AEA have also tentatively scheduled a webinar on developing and submitting comments on the NPRM for January 5, 2010. More details and a registration page for the webinar will be available later this week.

Since joining NATA in March, France has been responsible for handling issues that affect the association's FBO and general aviation airport members as well as all environmental matters. In addition to those membership segments, France has taken responsibility for flight training issues and is currently working towards obtaining his private pilot's license.

"Mike has been a fantastic addition to the NATA Government Affairs team," stated Eric R. Byer, NATA vice president of government and industry affairs. "He has taken on all of the issues we hired him for and then some, including some very technical flight training matters."

France, who attended Ball State University, previously worked with Volo Aviation in Manassas, VA, as a quality control and training coordinator. During his tenure at Volo Aviation, France was responsible for regulatory compliance issues and the development of operational manuals. Prior to Volo Aviation, France worked as the lead line service technician/quality control inspector for Next Flight Aviation in Manassas, VA.

"Mike's ability to research and address issues, in addition to developing relationships with key federal officials, has made him one of our shining stars at NATA," explained Byer. "Mike has now also started training to obtain his private pilot's license, a life-long dream and in invaluable experience when representing our members on flight training issues."

"We are truly fortunate to have someone of Mike's caliber representing our membership and have seen a tremendous impact in advancing our regulatory agenda over the last several months," concluded Byer.

Congress has just recently extended funding authorization for the FAA through March 31, 2010. This means that excise taxes – commercial taxes and fuel taxes – will continue through at least that time. Most taxes are at a fixed rate and remain unchanged. However, a few of the commercial transportation excise taxes are indexed to inflation and are subject to annual changes.

It is expected that the Internal Revenue Service will make an announcement regarding any excise tax rate changes effective January 1, 2010, shortly after President Obama signs the FAA extension into law. The rates subject to change are the Domestic Segment Fee, International Facilities Fee and the fee for flights to Alaska and Hawaii.

As soon as any update is available, NATA will alert the membership.

The glimmer of hope that existed for final passage of long-term legislation to reauthorize the FAA in the U.S. Senate has been extinguished. On December 10, 2009, the U.S. Congress passed legislation to continue funding the FAA through March 31, 2010. H.R. 4217 continues aviation taxes and revenues to all the federal programs of the FAA through March. The FAA has been operating under a series of extensions since its authorization expired in 2007. The current extension expires December 31.

H.R. 4217 provides $2 billion in contract authority for the Airport Improvement Program through the end of March to enable airports to move forward with safety and capacity projects. When legislation to authorize the FAA is annualized, this amount is usually close to $4 billion. In addition, H.R. 4217 extends the aviation excise taxes that are necessary to support the Airport and Airways Trust Fund, a substantial portion of the FAA's budget. 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a re-authorization bill in May, but the Senate did not complete its version of the bill due to a full calendar consisting mainly of health care reform legislation.

Earlier this month, President Obama laid out some of the steps he believes will help businesses start hiring again and help put Americans back to work. One of the steps included investing in America's roads, bridges and infrastructure, including additional investment in highways, transit, rail, and aviation infrastructure. President Obama's multi-layered jobs plan includes spending up to $50 billion in additional funds on transportation infrastructure programs, with the goal of obligating that money to specific projects within the next year.

White House officials have said the money to fund infrastructure investments could come from savings from the financial rescue program, which cost less than anticipated. Earlier this year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act set aside $48 billion for the Department of Transportation (DOT) to spend. Most of the funds went into highway and bridge projects, airport repairs, yet-to-be-awarded funds for high-speed passenger rail, and grants for projects of special importance. The DOT has to date paid out less than $7 billion but has obligated over $31 billion.

Speaking about his new proposals, Obama said, "We're proposing a boost in investment in the nation's infrastructure beyond what was included in the Recovery Act, to continue modernizing our transportation and communications networks. These are needed public works that engage private sector companies, spurring hiring across the country." White House aides said the project spending would again include highways, transit, rail, aviation and water transport systems. One said it would also set aside "a significant amount" for "merit-based" construction such as intermodal projects that draw in investments from other parties as well.

In a December 10, 2009 press release, NATA announced that Avfuel Corporation Vice President of Supply and Business Development Owen Busch has been named chairman of the NATA Environmental Committee.

In his current role, Owen oversees Avfuel Corporation's global supply chain supporting a network of over 600 branded aviation fuel dealers and hundreds of additional fuel locations accessible to general and commercial operators worldwide. Owen holds a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Business Administration from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and a Masters of Business Administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is currently based at Avfuel's corporate headquarters in Michigan.

"Under Owen's leadership, we expect that the Environmental Committee will continue to provide direction to the association on environmental affairs, including finding innovative ways for our members to be industry leaders in environmental responsibility" said NATA Director of Regulatory Affairs Michael France.

The entire press release is available here

The 2010 FBO Leadership Conference will address these questions, and more:

• What are the long-term implications of change for the industry, in general, and your business, specifically?
• How will you conduct business in this new environment?
• Who will tomorrow's customers be and how will you reach them?
• What is the value of relationship-building in a recession?
• How can you foster those relationships?
• How much more change can you expect?

New For Next Year
The FBO Leadership Conference will be held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, TX, immediately preceding NBAA's Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference. The close proximity of these two events will enable business leaders to meet with their customers and learn about the latest challenges and opportunities facing the industry.

Click here for a PDF of the brochure.

Click here to register on NATA's Web site.

Click here for a PDF of the registration form.

By Eric A. Faulkner, Director, National Accounts Landmark Aviation

What makes the Westchester County Airport (HPN) so unique?

HPN is located 40 miles North of New York City, situated in Westchester County, a very affluent community. We handle pretty much every facet of Aviation, including general aviation, corporate aviation and commercial aviation…

In your opinion, can five FBOs operate and still be successful on the same field:

In today’s economy, every airport has difficulty maintaining profitability for the FBOs on the field. Many airports have lost FBO tenants as a result of the economic impact on our industry – Westchester is NOT immune to this situation. That is why when last year one of our FBO tenants, Landmark Aviation, wanted to re-invest in their business by developing and building a brand new, six million dollar, state-of-the-art facility, including an executive conference room on the second floor of the FBO terminal, we couldn’t do anything but support them…

Would you describe the relationship between Westchester County Airport and the surrounding community?

Being a “good neighbor” is not a buzz word. There’s a fine line between keeping the surrounding community content and continuing to grow the airport into one of the largest and safest GA airports in the country. We as an airport have to constantly convince our critics that we bring value to a community. We bring economic benefits along with travel benefits. “Lifestyle needs and privacy,” that’s the value! The economic health of a community can be a direct result of the transportation services that an airport provides for its community, which is a direct correlation to the economic strength and stability that comes from a successful, well-run airport…

We strive to be more of a value to the community, which has the airport viewed in a more positive way. Residents can actually utilize their airport for their travel needs, whether it is for business or pleasure. We’ve added two-low cost carriers in Jet Blue and AirTran and what that has done in regards to growth is: in 2005 we saw approximately 900,000 passengers come through our terminal and by the end of this year (2009) we expect to hit 1.9 million and maybe even hit the 2 million passenger mark depending on the holiday traffic.

With the county executive position changing hands and a new administration coming in January, if you could have a wish list, what would it be?

First and foremost, I would love to develop and improve infrastructure in order to maintain operational levels of safety and service. Second, the Westchester County Airport currently doesn’t have a Master Plan in place. I would love to see a Master Plan put together so we can maintain the current levels of safety and security that this airport and community have come to expect.