Airports: Information on Prices for Aviation Services and FAA’s Oversight of Grant Requirements

Since 2007, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has provided more than $37 billion in grants to airports to fund capital development and is responsible for ensuring compliance with requirements airports assume when they accept these grants. One such requirement is that the airports provide users equal access to airport services such as fueling and parking. Recently, an industry group and pilots raised concerns about the transparency and reasonableness of prices charged for these and other services at airports. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine Fixed Base Operators' (FBOs’) pricing and FAA’s oversight of related airport grant assurances. This report examines: (1) the transparency of FBO prices, (2) the factors that influence prices, and (3) the extent to which FAA ensures compliance with federal airport grant assurances related to FBO activities. GAO analyzed FAA data related to complaints from 2013 through 2018 and reviewed relevant literature, key laws and regulations, and program documentation. GAO developed a statistical model to analyze variation in fuel prices across airports in the contiguous United States. GAO interviewed FAA compliance staff at headquarters and all regional offices, as well as a non-probability selection of stakeholders.

• Record URL:
  https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/702906.pdf
• Summary URL:
  https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/702905.pdf
• Corporate Authors:

  U.S. Government Accountability Office

  441 G Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20548
• Publication Date: 2019-11-26

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 42p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Access; Airports; Compliance; Fixed base operations; Fuels; Grant aid; Oversight; Parking fees; Pricing; Statistical analysis
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Finance; Policy; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01724654
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: GAO-20-16
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 4 2019 5:10PM