The air traffic problem making your holiday travel even more miserable

By Chris Isidore, CNN

(CNN) — Even if you’re flying commercial for the holidays, private jets might be making your trip more expensive.

That’s because, some critics say, business jets and others aren’t paying their fair share for the nation’s air traffic control system.

The overwhelming majority of the Aviation Trust Fund — the main source of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration — comes from a variety of fees levied on commercial passengers; in contrast, business jets pay only a modest fuel tax.

“If you’re standing in line for a commercial flight at Thanksgiving, you’re subsidizing private jet travelers,” said Chuck Collins, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank that specializes in inequality and environmental issues. “We, the commercial plane travelers, are picking up the slack for the most luxurious type of travel.”

Those taxes and fees airline customers pay include a 7.5% tax on the cost of every ticket, a $5.20 tax per trip segment, additional taxes on international flights, or flights to or from Alaska and Hawaii – even a 7.5% tax on the value of frequent flyer miles being awarded.

There are roughly 20,000 business jets based in the United States, according to the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), the industry trade group. That’s more than twice as many commercial passenger aircraft, but because the business jets fly less, they only account for about 9% of daily flights.

The NBAA argues that the fuel tax of 21.8 cents a gallon, paid by private jet operators to the FAA, covers their fair share of the Aviation Trust Fund. Since business jets use more fuel than smaller planes, they pay a bigger share of the aviation fuel tax than small prop planes owned and flown by individuals, although less than the fuel taxes paid by airlines.

“It’s a very efficient tax, and it’s a progressive tax,” said NBAA CEO Ed Bolen.

But critics say that fuel tax only covers a fraction of business jets’ costs to the US air system.

The fuel tax only covers about 10% of business jets’ costs to the FAA’s air traffic control activities, said Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank. “They’re getting a very generous free ride,” he said.

Non-commercial jets paid $166 million in fuel tax last year, compared to $11.9 billion commercial airline passengers paid in fees and taxes, FAA data shows.

Business jets have other advantages, too. Starting November 7 during the government shutdown, the FAA ordered commercial airlines to reduce the number of flights by up to 10% at the nation’s 40 largest airports, citing the shortage of air traffic controllers. That left tens of thousands of air passengers delayed or even stranded at large and small airports across the country.

But it wasn’t until more than a week later, on November 13, that the FAA limited most business jets flight into and out of the nation’s 12 largest airports.

“You can sort of see the priorities,” said Collins. “They should have grounded private planes before you grounded commercial travelers.”

The FAA did not comment on CNN’s questions for this story.

The NBAA’s Bolen said private jets, which are largely used by smaller firms, help businesses contribute to the economy.

Bolen said business jets don’t add much cost to the system because they don’t increase the number of air traffic controllers needed. His group’s figures show only 3% of the flights at the nation’s busiest airports are by business jets.

“It’s clear traffic systems are built to accommodate the requirements of the commercial airlines, and others fit into that system,” he said, calling air traffic control system costs for business jets “incremental.”

When business jet flights were sharply reduced at Reagan National Airport outside of Washington, DC, after the September 11 attack, the airport’s control tower costs “did not go down one dime,” he said.

But 254 smaller regional airports frequently used by business jets and private planes have few, if any, commercial flights

Those airports have their own private controllers, known as “contract towers,” paid for under contract with the FAA. That system costs about $230 million a year, said Michael McCormick, professor of air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. And the business jet fuel tax contribution to that system is a small fraction of that cost.

“They’re very happy with the status quo,” said McCormick, adding that the business jet owners frequently lobby Congress against changing that.

The Reason Foundation’s Poole says companies would likely pay up to keep their CEOs flying private even if fees were raised significantly. Most of the rest of the world taxes flights based on the gross weight of the plane times the miles flown, Poole said.

“Whenever one of those planes flies outside of US air space, they pay those fees,” he said.

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