A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

Business aviation fees at Australia’s capital airport (YSSY) will rise sharply starting next month. But, according to OpsGroup, the silver lining is that opposition from ExecuJet—the primary FBO at YSSY—and the Australian Business Aviation Association has prompted the Sydney airport authority to institute lower rate hikes than originally planned.
Regarding&nbsp;<a href="https://assets.ctfassets.net/v228i5y5k0x4/6ATJQRYlFa6Hi4R76Ut1T9/30da64513b7bc1851ae26e61ef26cab4/2025.06.06_-_Letter_variation_of_Conditions_of_Use_version_5.4.pdf">parking fees</a>, operators will receive three hours of free parking in the designated business aviation area. After that time, fees will be assessed based on aircraft weight and duration of stay. This replaces the initially proposed flat fee of AUD3,220 a day (about $2,100).
For aircraft more than 40,000 kilograms (88,200 pounds), pricing starts at $1,000 per day for the first three days, with stepped increases to $2,500 daily after one week. That is a steep rise from the current $280 a day for aircraft in that class. Smaller aircraft will be charged less, starting at $500 a day.
The airport runway fee will also climb to a minimum of $340, with the per-1,000-kilograms mtow fee moving from $6.91 to $17.
Sydney Airport will now mandate the use of ground power units and preconditioned air where available, with operators assessed a fee of up to AUD21.74 whether they use them or not.&nbsp;The authority also instituted environmental spill penalty fees of $300 for unreported fuel spills or $150 if self-reported.

News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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FAA Sets Interim AI Policy for Agency  Personnel