A new tool in the AOPA Airport Directory aims to provide pilots and fixed-base operators a price database to encourage fee transparency at airports.
FBOs can enter their fees into the AOPA Airport Directory and pilots can access that information for free, allowing them to decide where to land for affordable service.
Of the 36 fee types included on the new tool are prices for landing, ramp, hangar, drop off and security, making the The FBO-fee information more detailed than ever before.
Ken Mead, AOPAs general counsel, said, “Transparency is a key step forward. I think it is really great that the aviation industry is coming together, with steadily increasing cooperation from the FBO industry to disclose fees through this modernized tool. But we still have a long way to go.”
The directory is viewed around 47,000 times each month by pilots planning their flights. Using mail and email, AOPA has begun an industry-wide outreach campaign to FBOs across the USA, encouraging operators to post their fees in AOPA’s directory. The association also encourages FBOs to voluntarily and proactively update their fees in the directory.
AOPA has advocated for FBO-fee transparency to help pilots make the best choice about which airport or business to use before a flight and to see if fees may be imposed even if no services are required. The industry-wide effort to make FBO fees more transparent picked up steam in the past two years, with increasing support from industry groups to address the issue.
The directory now contains about 40,000 fees from FBOs and information about more than 5,200 public-use airports in the USA. Pilots can access participating FBOs’ listings from an airport’s page in the directory, which now includes a fee details section that allows pilots to filter fee listings based on the kind of aircraft they fly, such as single-engine piston, multiengine turbine, or jet, for example.
