Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

The city of Dallas plans to implement a new landing fee for general aviation operations at Dallas Love Field (DAL) this summer under a recently adopted ordinance. Approved by the Dallas city council on April 25, the ordinance takes effect July 1, specifying that the director of aviation should determine the fee based on a formula that factors aircraft weight and airport maintenance costs.

 


Under the formula, 80 percent of the fee will be based on airport upkeep costs that are attributable to general aviation landings and 20 percent will be calculated using aircraft landing weight. The fee will vary annually based on operations and maintenance needs.

 


According to city documents the fee could be as much as $5.80 per 1,000 pounds in the first year, based on an estimated $20.175 million maintenance and operations needs at DAL in 2018. Of that, the city is assigning $6.2 million to general aviation operations. With nearly $1.3 million expected to be collected in the 7-cents-per-gallon fuel flowage fee, the city estimates it will need to collect $4.9 million in general aviation landing fees.

 


Commercial carriers currently pay $2.20 per 1,000 pounds, a figure the city said is derived by calculating annual airfield requirements divided by total landing weight of all signatory airlines.

 


The National Air Transportation Association is working with the business aviation community to monitor the implementation of the fees. Airport officials met with business aviation interests last week on the issue and are expected to continue that dialog in another meeting tomorrow evening.

 


The city cited increasing costs for keeping up with traffic and maintenance needs in its decision to approve the fee. But airport officials also stress that they want to ensure that general aviation pays its “fair share.”

 


“Much of the 14 million square feet of pavement at Love Field is more than 30 years old, with increasing costs to prevent further deterioration and maintain compliance with FAA regulations,” according to briefing materials accompanying the ordinance. “Currently, all airfield costs….are disproportionately charged to commercial air carriers through the landing fee,” the city said. In a separate background document, it noted, “General aviation activity is not paying its fair share of airfield cost based on activity.”

 


City officials said that DAL has “heavy” general aviation activity compared with most U.S. commercial airports. In 2016, general aviation accounted for 38 percent of operations at the airport.

 


“The implementation of a general aviation landing fee will have an effect on some users of the airfield; however, given most other commercial airports charge landing fees, the impact should be minimal,” the city surmised in its research on the fee. It also pointed to services provided at Dallas Executive Airport with no landing fees.

 


The city has expressed a desire to see a shift in GA traffic toward Dallas Executive Airport, which has significant capacity to accommodate additional traffic.

Dallas Set To Implement GA Landing Fee at Love Field

To take effect July 1, the initial fee could be $5.80 per 1,000 pounds, more than twice the rate assessed on airliners.

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