$1,000 to Land? EAA Opposes Long-Shot State Legislation

May 13, 2021 – EAA has registered its opposition to a bill in the Massachusetts legislature that would impose a $1,000 landing fee on all GA aircraft operating in the state. The bill, S.2305, levies a “climate impact landing fee” on all personal, corporate, rental, and charter aircraft. The bill was referred to the Joint Committee on Transportation in late March and has no cosponsors listed.

As with most of the more than 100,000 bills introduced in state legislatures across the nation every session, S.2305 is unlikely to pass, but legislative ideas tend to percolate over successive sessions and EAA will continue to stay watchful. In general, statewide landing fees are exceedingly unpopular as neighboring states can simply undercut the fee. In fact, the GA community has been successful over the last two decades in removing many states’ sales taxes on aviation products and services for this reason.