Are airports in peril, either from owners that want to privatize them or municipalities that want to shut them down? The NBAA's Steve Brown has some good news and some bad news.

Ed Bolen believes total control of the ATC system is the force majeure behind the airlines' long-held wish to create and dominate an air traffic control corporation supported by user fees. For several decades, some of the big airlines have tried to seize control of the ATC system and the revenues that fund it, the NBAA president and CEO told BCA. "We believe that they want to use that control for their exclusive benefit."

The price for admission into today's FAA-run ATC system is a tax schedule that varies by category of activity. The airlines pay through a combination of taxes—the Passenger Facility Tax, per-takeoff fee and a 4.3 cents/gal. fuel tax. General aviation is divided between turbine and piston, with the former taxed 21.9 cents/gal. and the latter assessed 19.5 cents/gal. of avgas.