Next week when congress returns to Washington, its members will be met by NATA (National Air Transportation Association) members who will be pushing to get our Congressman and Senators to pass H.R. 1474/S. 785.  The legislation is “To require that the Federal Government procure from the private sector the goods and services necessary for the operations and management of certain Government agencies, and for other purposes.”  The NATA is urging support saying that its members “have continuously experienced government competition in the form of airport operators competing with private business.”  The ACI-NA (Airports Council International-NA) in response has argued by saying the legislation is “part of NATA’s effort to prevent airports from serving as FBO’s.  ACI-NA also says “NATA is telling Congress that only private FBO’s are capable of providing the services needed at every single airport in every state in the country.”  ACI-NA says, “We know that not only is this untrue, it is also not in the best interest of the taxpayer.”

On average, government run facilities (including FBO’s) are not as efficient, nor offer the same quality services as those given by privately owned business.  However, there are hundreds, if not thousands of communities that would not have an FBO if it weren’t for the government entities that run them.  From a community perspective, an airport is part of the integral transportation system that both supports current business and entices new business.  Without community FBO involvement, smaller airport facilities would not be able to offer core services to local aircraft owners, nor would be able to offer a complete transportation infrastructure for potential business.

To view the proposed legislation, click on the below links.

H.R. 1474  “http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.1474″http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.1474:

S. 785   “http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.785″http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.785: