Airport Com Seeks Landing Fees For Commercial Flights At Town Airfield

CHATHAM – On a split vote, the airport commission last week opted to pursue implementing a $175 landing fee for all commercial planes or those over 6,000 pounds to help cover the cost of airport capital projects.

 The vote came after a lengthy, convoluted discussion on Sept. 10 that began with Chair Huntley Harrison seeking a motion to rescind a $250 landing fee that the commission endorsed in July. Huntley brought the matter back before the commission after a conversation with town counsel.

 “He said, ‘You’ve got to be careful there, because if it’s too high, it could be considered discriminatory,’” Harrison said. “I’m trying to avoid that.” 

 Aside from the fees assessed by airport operator Cape Cod Flying Circus, the town has not previously imposed landing fees at the Chatham airport, but Harrison said the move is necessary now.

 “We’ve lost funding at town meeting to keep the airport, with our capital projects, moving along,” he said. “And we have to come up with some means to help us get some revenue.” The money generated by the landing fees will help pay the town’s share of capital improvements like upgrades to navigational aids and improvements to the runway, taxiways, apron and signage. 

The landing fees are one potential source of revenue to help defray those costs, which were typically covered by a town meeting appropriation in the past. But at the annual town meeting in May, voters rejected a $59,175 appropriation designed to leverage more than $1 million in state and federal funds for replacement of the field lighting, beacon and the windsock, apron maintenance and paving of a parking area. Such projects are typically 90 percent funded by the FAA, with 5 percent each from the state and town.

But Harrison said the $250 landing fee contemplated in July needs to be lowered to something “that is more reasonable and something that will be fair for the operators who come in.” His motion to rescind the $250 fee passed, with only commissioner Peter Farber dissenting.

 “I think $250 is absolutely affordable for commercial operators,” Farber said. “Commercial aircraft landings in Chatham are going up. The town has indicated that they don’t want to be spending money on the airport — I’ll just paraphrase — and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think the airport should carry itself. That makes perfect sense to me,” he said. 

Commissioner Michael Cortese noted that most similar airports in the region have very low landing fees.

 “Typically in a town like Chatham which is tourist-based, and we want those tourist dollars to come in, the airport is a huge asset. So in order to encourage more planes to come in, they keep the fees low,” he said. 

Farber argued that, given the price of charter flights to Chatham, a $250 landing fee would probably go unnoticed.

 “Even though the perception is that it might be fine, that people can afford that, it’s the repercussions that I worry about,” Harrison said. He said the charter operators would likely absorb the cost at first. “I don’t want them to say, ‘Look, that fee is too much for our people and we can’t do that.’”

Commissioner Leo Eldredge asked if there was a concern that “if we put the fee at $250, some of them might not come here? And is that a problem?”

 “We want to encourage business,” Harrison replied.

Airport Manager Tim Howard said the bigger concern is that the landing fee is seen as discriminatory, which could prompt a user to file a so-called Part 13 complaint with the FAA. That was the same type of complaint that launched a lengthy legal battle when the town attempted to ban skydiving at Chatham Airport.

 “We’ve been through this process before,” Howard said. “It’s messy, it’s expensive. It’s not worth it, in my opinion,” he said.

Farber rejected the idea that a $250 landing fee would be discriminatory.

 “Discrimination is when you treat people who are in the same category differently, and you don’t have a reason to do that,” he said. “My understanding is that if we choose a fee, it’s going to apply to every commercial aircraft and every aircraft over 6,000 [pounds].”

Having first rescinded the original $250 fee, the commission considered a motion by Harrison to lower the fee to $100, but the motion failed to gain a second. Farber made a new motion to reinstate the fee at $250, which failed on a tie vote. Ultimately, Cortese proposed a fee of $175, which passed on a 5-1 vote with Farber dissenting. 

Harrison said the landing fee, which would be added to the existing $97 fee charged by Cape Cod Flying Circus, will next be reviewed by airport counsel and the town manager. It was not immediately clear when the fee, if approved, would take effect.

This article has been changed to correct an error.