Raytheon Autopilot Manual

[Katrine Freggiaro]

FederalAviation Administration (FAA) programs and activities are funded under four broad budget accounts: operations and maintenance (such as air traffic control and aviation safety functions); facilities and equipment (such as control towers and navigation beacons); grants for airport improvements under the Airport Improvement Program (AIP); and civil aviation research and development conducted or sponsored by FAA. Additionally, certain aviation programs are administered by the Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of the Secretary, including the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, which subsidizes airline service to certain small or isolated communities. These programs are funded primarily through a special trust fund, the Airport and Airways Trust Fund (AATF), and, in part, through general fund contributions.

Other federal entities also play significant roles in civil aviation. These include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which conducts extensive research on civil aeronautics; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which provides research and operational support to FAA regarding aviation weather forecasting; the Transportation Security Administration in the Department of Homeland Security, which has authority over civil aviation security; and the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates aviation accidents and makes safety recommendations to FAA. These programs are not considered in this report. This report focuses on FAA and DOT civil aviation programs addressed in the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 (P.L. 114-190), enacted on July 15, 2016, which authorizes AATF taxes and revenue collections and civil aviation program expenditures through FY2017. A subsequent six-month extension (P.L. 115-63) is set to expire at the end of March 2018.

The AATF, sometimes referred to as the aviation trust fund, was established in 1970 under the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970 (P. L. 91-258) to provide for expansion of the nation's airports and air traffic system. It has been the major funding source for federal aviation programs since its creation. Between FY2013 and FY2016, the AATF provided between 71.5% and 92.8% of FAA's total annual funding, the remainder coming from general fund appropriations.1 Revenue sources for the trust fund include passenger ticket taxes, segment fees, air cargo fees, and fuel taxes paid by both commercial and general aviation aircraft (see Table 1).

In addition to excise taxes deposited into the trust fund, FAA imposes air traffic service fees on flights that transit U.S.-controlled airspace but do not take off from or land in the United States. These overflight fees partially fund the EAS program.2

AATF revenues have been adversely affected by the recent trend among airlines to impose fees for a variety of add-on services and amenities such as checked bags, onboard Wi-Fi access, or seats with additional leg room. Generally, fees not included in the base ticket price are not subject to federal excise taxes. Air carriers generated over $4.1 billion in baggage fees in 2016.3 The trust fund would have received more than $307 million from baggage fees alone had these fees been subject to the 7.5% excise tax. If airlines continue to expand use of ancillary fees as an alternative to increasing base ticket prices, tax revenues may not keep up with federal spending on aviation programs.

Airlines have long contended that general aviation operators, particularly corporate jets, should provide a larger share of the revenues supporting the trust fund. General aviation interests dispute this, arguing that the air traffic system mainly supports the airlines and that nonairline users pay a reasonable share given the relatively small incremental costs arising from their flights.

In 2015, the Obama Administration proposed a per-flight user charge of $100 on commercial and general aviation jets and turboprops that fly in controlled airspace as an additional revenue source for the AATF. The proposal, estimated in 2011 to generate $11 billion over 10 years,4 was opposed by general aviation interests, which depicted this as a first step toward funding the air traffic control system through user charges. The Administration's budgets for FY2016 and FY2017 did not include such a proposal. Proposals by the Clinton Administration and the George W. Bush Administration to establish user charges for air traffic services also failed to gain congressional support.

The Trump Administration's budget for FY2019 did not include a specific user fee proposal. Rather, the Trump Administration has proposed comprehensive reforms to shift air traffic services to an independent, self-sufficient, nongovernmental cooperative funded entirely through user fees that would cover both its costs of operations and recapitalization.5

In recent years, FAA funding has totaled between $15 billion and $17 billion annually. FAA funding is divided among four main accounts. Operations and Maintenance (O&M) receives slightly more than 60% of total FAA appropriations. It is the only FAA account that is funded, in part, by general fund contributions. The O&M account principally funds air traffic operations and aviation safety programs. The Airport Improvement Program (AIP) provides federal grants-in-aid for projects such as new runways and taxiways; runway lengthening, rehabilitation, and repair; and noise mitigation near airports. The Facilities and Equipment (F&E) account provides funding for the acquisition and maintenance of air traffic facilities and equipment, and for engineering, development, testing, and evaluation of technologies related to the federal air traffic system. The Research, Engineering, and Development account finances research on improving aviation safety and operational efficiency and reducing environmental impacts of aviation operations. Authorizations and appropriations for these accounts are shown in Table 2.

AIP provides federal grants for airport development. AIP funding, distributed both by formula and by discretionary grants, is usually limited to capital improvements related to aircraft operations, particularly improvements addressing safety, capacity, and environmental concerns. Commercial revenue-producing portions of airports and airport terminals are generally not eligible for AIP funding. AIP money usually cannot be used for airport operational expenses or bond repayments. It may be spent only on public-use airports identified in FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airports Systems, which currently lists over 3,300 airports across the United States considered significant to national air transportation.

Passenger facility charges (PFCs) provide a source of nonfederal funds intended to complement AIP spending. A PFC is a local tax imposed, with federal approval, by an airport on each boarding passenger. PFC funds can be used for a broader range of projects than AIP grants and are more likely to be used for landside projects such as improvements to passenger terminals and ground transportation facilities. PFCs can also be used for bond repayments. Currently, PFCs are capped at $4.50 per boarded passenger, with a maximum charge of $18 per round trip flight. PFCs are collected by the airlines and remitted to the airports.

FAA is a large organization, with more than 43,000 full-time equivalent positions. More than 31,000 of these are in the Air Traffic Organization (ATO), including approximately 14,500 air traffic controllers, 5,000 air traffic supervisors and managers, and 7,800 engineers and maintenance technicians. ATO was established under Executive Order 12/07/00 in December 2000 as a functional unit within FAA but with a completely separate management and organizational structure and a mandate to employ a business-like approach emphasizing defined performance goals and metrics related to operational safety and system efficiency. Employee pay and advancement are based, in part, on meeting annual organizational goals. Creation of the ATO as a distinct entity within FAA also had the effect of more clearly separating operational components related to air traffic control from components concerned with regulation and safety oversight of airlines, aircraft operators, repair stations, flight schools, pilots and mechanics, and other entities.

Although air traffic modernization will have some impact on the nature of controller job functions and training, it is not expected to have a significant impact on the size of the FAA controller workforce. While total controller staffing levels are expected to remain near the current level through 2026, a present concern is the percentage of controllers in on-the-job training, which currently stands at roughly 25% at en route facilities and 15% at terminal facilities. The training process takes several years, but FAA anticipates that proportion of controllers who are fully qualified will rise significantly by 2021.

Section 2106 of P.L. 114-190 requires FAA to give hiring preference to controller candidates with prior military or civilian air traffic control experience, veterans, and graduates of FAA-approved college training programs. It also prohibits FAA from utilizing a controversial biographical assessment tool to screen applicants, and allows individuals who did not pass the biographical assessment.

Consolidation of FAA air traffic facilities and functions is viewed as a means to control operational costs, replace outdated facilities, and improve air traffic services. Consolidation efforts to date have focused on terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facilities. TRACON consolidation has been ongoing for many years, but in the past it has been limited to nearby and overlapping terminal areas in major metropolitan areas such as New York/Northern New Jersey, Washington/Baltimore, and Los Angeles/San Diego. More recently, FAA has sought to consolidate radar facilities across larger geographical areas focusing on small to mid-sized airports with small-scale terminal radar facilities housed in the towers that also control landings, takeoffs, and ground movements.

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