Unequal Skies: How “Home-Based” Landing Fee Discounts Violate Federal Law and Fairness

Longmont airport, like other GA airports across the country, is in a fight to become financially viable. One proposed solution is the adoption of landing fees. Across the country, some airports are adopting landing fee policies that offer discounts or exemptions for “based” aircraft — those that are tied-down or hangared at the airport — while charging higher fees to “transient” aircraft.

At first glance, this may seem ‘fair’. After all, based operators contribute to the airport through hangar leases and fuel purchases. But in reality there is a serious legal and ethical issue: such fee structures are discriminatory, distort competition, and violate the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) grant assurances that every publicly funded airport must uphold.

The Legal Foundation: FAA Grant Assurances

When an airport accepts federal Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds — which virtually all public GA airports do — it signs a binding contract with the U.S. government. The FAA’s Grant Assurance 22, “Economic Nondiscrimination,” is explicit: airports must make their facilities “available for public use on reasonable terms and without unjust discrimination to all types, kinds, and classes of aeronautical activities.”

A landing fee discount that favors “based” aircraft over transient visitors is a textbook case of unjust discrimination. Both aircraft are engaged in identical aeronautical use — landing, taxiing, and departing — yet are treated unequally based solely on where they are stored. The FAA has repeatedly affirmed that such distinctions are impermissible unless they are based on objective, cost-justified differences in service or facility use.

Landing fees are meant to recover a portion of the airport’s operating and maintenance costs attributable to aircraft operations. These costs are incurred equally whether a plane is based or transient. Offering one group a discount doesn’t reduce those costs; it simply shifts the financial burden unfairly.

Moreover, these policies create economic favoritism. Transient pilots would be effectively subsidizing based operators and creating an unequal playing field, discouraging visiting aircraft from using the airport, buying fuel, or patronizing local businesses. 

The FAA’s own guidance reinforces this point. In the Airport Compliance Manual (Order 5190.6B), the agency warns that “fee differentials must reflect reasonable and nonarbitrary distinctions” and that unjustly favoring based users over transients “may constitute prohibited discrimination.” Several FAA compliance decisions — including City of Pompano Beach and Santa Monica Airport — have found that preferential treatment of certain users violates the airport’s federal obligations.

The Myth of “Local Loyalty”

Airport managers often defend these discounts as loyalty rewards for those who “support the airport year-round.” But this logic collapses under scrutiny. Based operators already pay rent for hangars or tie-downs and purchase local services — those are separate, voluntary transactions. Landing fees are not a reward system; they are user fees for use of a federally funded airfield.

By accepting federal money, the airport agreed to serve the entire flying public — not just its tenants. The moment an airport accepts federal grants, it ceases to be a private club.

The Broader Consequences

Discriminatory landing fee policies erode trust between the aviation community and local authorities. Visiting pilots may choose to avoid airports with unfair pricing, diverting fuel sales, maintenance revenue, and goodwill to neighboring fields. Over time, this can undermine the economic viability of the very airports these policies were meant to protect.

Equally important, they expose airport sponsors to FAA enforcement risk. A single complaint under 14 CFR Part 16 can trigger a federal investigation, and if the FAA finds noncompliance, the airport can face penalties, including suspension of future AIP funding — a devastating outcome for small communities reliant on federal dollars for runway maintenance and safety upgrades.

A Better Path Forward

Airports that wish to reward loyalty have lawful alternatives: they can offer volume-based fuel discounts, long-term lease incentives, or other options that don’t involve discriminatory airfield charges. These approaches maintain equity while encouraging based-operators to invest in their home airports.

The FAA’s grant assurances exist for a reason: to ensure that every taxpayer-funded runway serves the public fairly and uniformly. Landing fee discounts for based aircraft may seem harmless, but they strike at the heart of that commitment. The law — and the City of Longmont — should demand better.