Smart Skies is a nationwide campaign uniting passengers, employees, concerned citizens and the airlines in creating a state-of-the-art air traffic control (ATC) system that is fairly funded. A modernized ATC system will reduce congestion and flight delays, and maintain world-class safety standards. Fair funding would end the current passenger subsidy of corporate jets by requiring them to pay their fair share for the ATC services they use.
More than one hundred thousand individuals have joined Smart Skies, as well as Air Transport Association (ATA) members that collectively transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger and cargo traffic; and other airline-related companies.
Each day, as the price of jet fuel skyrockets out of control, the U.S. airline industry gets weaker when compared to its international competitors, which hold their own or even get stronger. Today’s record-high fuel prices – a staggering 61 percent higher than last year – exacerbated by a weak economy, threaten the viability of the aviation industry. Last year, flight delays cost passengers $4.2 billion and each minute a flight was delayed cost an airline $28 in fuel alone. Since December 2007, six airlines have ceased operating and a seventh is attempting to continue operations through the protection of the bankruptcy court.
Congress has an historic opportunity to address this crisis and set a course to benefit passengers and shippers for years to come. Legislation providing funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to modernize and operate our nation’s air transportation system is being considered in the Senate. Will Congress take advantage of this opportunity to rectify the current situation and establish a long-term plan for a healthy, vibrant and competitive air transportation system that provides immense benefits to passengers and the national economy, or will it enact short-term fixes that surrender to a host of special interests?
This spring, actions by Congress will have an enduring impact on air travel in the United States. Failure by Congress to take the proper actions threatens to speed the decline of the U.S. airline industry; accelerate reductions in service and frequency to small communities for years to come; increase the inequities in the aviation tax system; and compound delays, ultimately penalizing time-pressed passengers trying to arrive at their destinations on time.
With the airline industry on the precipice, Congress must:
- Reduce delays and cancellations by modernizing the air traffic control system
- Stop unfair financial burdens on passengers
- Require corporate jets to pay their fair share of taxes
- Address skyrocketing fuel prices
- Maintain the world’s safest transportation system