Canada has New Fuel Tax, Welcome to House GA Caucus Launch and Sharing Safety Data

New Fuel Tax in Canada

Authorized through the Green­house Gas Pollution Pricing Act, Canada is implementing a new fuel surcharge for aircraft. Operators, including those that are international, who fly or do business in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan must register with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which will extend to including Nunavut and Yukon territories July 1, 2019.

According to the CRA, the rates were designed to reflect a carbon pollution price of $20/ton of carbon dioxide equivalent and rising by $10/ton annually to reach $50/ton by 2022. For avgas this equates to almost 5 cents per liter starting out and increasing to 12.44 cents April 1, 2022. For jet fuel, the rates begin with 5.16 cents per liter and grow to 12.91, starting April 1, 2022. While registration is required for Nunavut and Yukon, there will be no surcharge for those territories.

Further guidance on the collection of the taxes is expected soon from the CRA.

NBAA Welcomes House GA Caucus Launch in the 116th Congress, Urges Members to Contact Congress

In mid-May the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) applauded the launch of the U.S. House of Representatives General Aviation (GA) Caucus and provided an online tool for NBAA members to call upon their elected federal representatives to join the House caucus.

Congressional caucuses are informal groups of lawmakers united in a common interest. Founded in 2009, the House GA Caucus promotes the importance and value of general aviation, including business aviation, and its vital role in the nation’s economy and transportation system. It also serves to educate all members of Congress and their staff about issues that are critical to the success, strength and growth of GA.

“Time and again, House GA Caucus members have been among the most effective champions for the general aviation community,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “The GA Caucus is a bipartisan group of members of Congress from urban and rural states and districts who share common support, and a clear understanding of the importance of general aviation to our nation.”

Serving as co-chairs of the House GA Caucus in the 116th Congress are U.S Reps. Marc Veasey (D-33-TX) and Sam Graves (R-6-MO). They recently sent a “Dear Colleague” letter urging their House colleagues to join the GA Caucus.

“The GA industry employs over 1.1 million workers and contributes more than $219 billion to the U.S. economy annually,” the congressional Dear Colleague letter read. “In 2018, U.S. general aviation air­plane manufacturers delivered 1,746 airplanes worth
$11.6 billion with more than 39 percent of total shipments tied to exports. In fact, the GA industry is one of the few remaining U.S. manufacturing industries that provide a trade surplus for the U.S.”

“NBAA has always strongly supp­orted efforts to build and expand the congressional GA Caucus in both the House and Senate,” Bolen continued. “We commend Congressmen Graves and Veasey for standing tall for GA, and for their efforts to expand membership in the House GA Caucus. We urge NBAA members to join this important effort by contacting their elected representatives and request them to become part of the caucus.”

FAA Highlights Importance of Safety Data Sharing

From a recent National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Update:

A recent FAA Fact Sheet – Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) Program – highlights agency and industry efforts over the past 11 years to continuously improve safety through the open exchange of safety data.

Eighty-eight business aircraft operators, 47 Part 121 airlines, 12 universities, five manufacturers and two maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations participate in ASIAS. The FAA plans to phase in more business aviation and light general aviation operators, as well as the helicopter industry.

“NBAA encourages members to participate in safety data sharing programs, whether through providing narrative safety reports, [Flight Operational Quality Assurance] FOQA or FOQA-like data, or other means,” said Mark Larsen, NBAA’s senior manager of safety and flight operations. “Data sharing is an important way to benefit the community broadly and to learn lessons from other aviation organizations.”

NBAA’s Safety Committee recognized the importance of safety data sharing by including the issue in its Top Safety Focus Areas of 2019.

ASIAS is a data repository of more than a dozen public and proprietary data sources, including, but not limited to:

• ASAP (Aviation Safety Action Program) and ASRS (Aviation Safety Reporting System through NASA), and proprietary system narrative safety reports
• FOQA (Flight Operational Quality Assurance) and FOQA-like flight operations data
• NMAC (Near Mid-Air Collision reports) and other ATC narrative safety reports
• SDR (Service Difficulty Reports)
• Aeronautical facility (airport and heliport) information

The General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GAJSC) and airline-oriented corollary Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) are integral components to ASIAS. The GAJSC uses operations data to identify risks, develop recommended risk mitigation measures and evaluate the effectiveness of implemented solutions.

ASIAS also partners with the semi-annual Aviation Safety InfoShare meeting.

Doug Carr, NBAA vice president of regulatory and international affairs, is a member of the ASIAS Executive Board, which oversees the ASIAS initiative. Larsen is a member of the General Aviation Issue Analysis Team that focuses on general aviation safety topics and develops proposals on priorities and process changes for consideration.

“NBAA has long supported FAA/industry data sharing initiatives through programs such as ASIAS as a means to prevent incidents and accidents in business aviation,” said Larsen. “We know effective and broad-reaching aviation safety data sharing will help the industry evolve to the next level of safety.”