Last month, FAA COO Russell Chew told a standing-room-only audience at the annual conference of the U.S.
Last month, FAA COO Russell Chew told a standing-room-only audience at the annual conference of the U.S. Air Traffic Control Association that a widening gap between the falling income and rising expenses of the agency’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) could reach a cumulative $8.2 billion over the next five years and he said the FAA must take positive actions to close this gap.
One side of the problem arises from reduced passenger tax income going into the federal Aviation Trust Fund, which provides 85 percent of the FAA’s budget, with general taxation providing the 15-percent balance. Since 9/11, two things have altered the level of this income. First, of course, was the dramatic drop in passenger boardings, although these have slowly recovered and, in many cases, now exceed pre-9/11 levels.
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