Aviation fuel tax to increase • Money will help improve Oregon airports, increase rural service

Members of Oregon’s aviation industry are working to figure out what comes next after Gov. Kate Brown signed House Bill 2075 in July, which allows for a 2-cent tax increase on fuel for aircraft.

The bill will go into effect Jan. 1 and is projected by the state to generate more than $20 million from 2016 through 2021, when the bill expires.

While the text of the bill provides an outline of how the funds will be used, the exact implementation is still being determined.

Gale “Jake” Jacobs, executive director of Oregon Aviation Industries, an industry group consisting of more than 400 aviation-related companies, said the group’s annual summit focused primarily on informing members about how the bill would be implemented. While that process did not end at the meeting, held Tuesday at the Columbia Aviation Association in Aurora, Jacobs said he believed the details would be completed by the end of October.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunities provided by the bill,” Jacobs said.

He added that 5 percent of the budget would go toward program administration for the Oregon Department of Aviation.

Subsequently, half the program’s funds will be directed toward the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program, which provides grants for the development of public-use airports. For small airports, the existing FAA grants can cover more than 90 percent of costs, but Jacobs said the remaining amount may still be too steep for rural communities in Eastern Oregon.

“Some communities just don’t have that 10 percent,” Jacobs said.

In addition, 25 percent of the funds will go directly to rural air service assistance. Jacobs said the vast majority of the 97 public-use airports in Oregon don’t offer commercial flights, leaving remote areas of Oregon without easy access to regional hubs.

“Particularly in Eastern Oregon, the residents are totally underserved for booking flights,” Jacobs said.

The funding would go toward a couple of airports in the region that could support small commercial flights to hubs such as Portland International Airport.

While the presence of Redmond Airport makes this less of a concern for Central Oregon, Jacobs said, some of the smaller airports in the region could benefit from these funds.

“Prineville is a classic example,” Jacobs said. “Places like Prineville are going to love this.”

While unmanned aerial vehicles — the industry term for drones — are not specifically referred to within the text of the bill, Jacobs said the systems will have the same access to funding for projects as manned aircraft.

“UAV is all part of aviation as far as we’re concerned,” Jacobs said.

Additionally, Chuck Allen, executive director of SOAR Oregon, a nonprofit designed to strengthen the state’s drone industry, said any improvements an airport may make could include elements, such as potential hanger space, that would benefit drones at that airport. 

Source: http://www.bendbulletin.com