Business aviation leaders are set to meet again with Dallas Love Field (DAL) officials on September 25 to continue hashing out what they hope will be a fair resolution to new landing fees that are pending at the airport. Earlier this summer, Dallas officials delayed implementation of the new general aviation landing fees until October, and the Love Field Pilots Association (LFPA) has asked for a continued delay until a resolution is reached. At issue is the validity of various metrics that will be used to develop the fees.

LFPA formed a task force over the summer to delve into general aviation’s costs and contributions to DAL after the Dallas city council in late April approved the assessment of new landing fees for GA aircraft, originally proposed as $5.80 per 1,000 pounds—among the highest in the country. The city cited a need for general aviation to pay its fair share, as well as a need to raise funds to maintain the airport.

In a recent letter to Dallas Airport System director Mark Duebner, LFPA president Sean Lynch noted that the task force has the “clear impression that the assessment and collection of rental payments together with landing and flowage fees at DAL is, at best, convoluted and compromised by inaccurate data and incorrect past practices.”

The group questioned the airport's traffic data, noting instances of under-counting, over-assessments of aircraft landing weight, a lack of data on commercial operations, inaccurate comparisons of landing and other fees at several other airports, and inconsistent approaches to the amounts to be assessed.

“Our task force does believe that if [the department of aviation], in conjunction with the Dallas city attorney’s office, is willing to continue to work with us, then we can collectively design fees that (a) comply with the Dallas city code and are applied to the right parts, (b) are more transparent, (c) meet the DOA’s requirement to adequately fund the city of Dallas airports, and (d) will therefore be more palatable to both commercial and general aviation communities that use those airports,” the letter stated.