How Bad Is The FAA's Budget Crisis?

Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta and FAA Administrator Marion Blakey are using every available public opportunity to predict an FAA funding meltdown by 2007. However, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), revenue into the trust fund will be up 53 percent. At a May 4th House aviation subcommittee hearing, AOPA President Phil Boyer cited the OMB prediction of aviation trust fund surpluses out to the year 2010. It might not be as bad as painted,” Boyer told the committee, as he showed them a chart of the OMB’s projections predicting the growth in trust fund revenue.