8 September 2005
An independent report, commissioned by AOPA, the British Business & General Aviation Association and the British Helicopter Advisory Board, accuses the CAA of breaching its obligations on at least two major counts in the way it is seeking to impose massive fee increases on general aviation. It argues that the CAA’s plans – designed, according to the authority, to eradicate ‘cross-subsidies’ by which the airlines pay more for their oversight than GA – would have a disproportionate effect on operators of small aircraft who are already paying up to 7.5 percent of their entire turnover in fees to the CAA.
AOPA has warned that the CAA’s proposals to take some £5 million more from an industry which already seems to be locked in a spiral of decline will force many small businesses to the wall and lead to a long-term reduction in safety as flight training is forced offshore. The report says the Joint Review Team, which was set up by the CAA to review cross-subsidies and from which AOPA was excluded, did not always follow its own principles and produced opaque information which did not allow those affected to assess the impact of the proposals.
AOPA’s Parliamentary advisers Gerald Howarth MP, Lembit Opik MP, and Lords Goschen, Trefgarne and Rotherwick – all current PPLs – have signed a letter to the CAA calling the cost increases “unfair and unreasonable” and saying they will seriously damage the UK’s general aviation industry. Along with AOPA they call for a postponement of the fee increases until a Regulatory Impact Assessment has been done.
http://www.aopa.co.uk/
http://www.bbga.aero/
