Jefferson County Airport Correspondence

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la City of Louisville • • Office of the Mayor • January 12, 1999 • • The Honorable Mark Udall •US House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Representative Udall: • The City of Louisville would like to make you aware that the Jefferson County Commissioners on January 4, 1999 voted to lift the ban on processing applications for scheduled air carrier service out of the Jefferson County Airport. Based on local news accounts, they did so reluctantly, while accusing the Federal'government of blackmail. According to the Commissioners, the action was taken to prevent Jeffco from losing federal funding, which was at risk while the moratorium on applications remained in effect. The Commissioners routinely stated their annoyance with federal officials exerting control over local decisions. The City of Louisville firmly believes that an airport, whether it received federal funds or not, should have the right to decide what kind of traffic it wants at the airport. The airport operators and citizens around the airport know best what their airport should look like, not federal regulators in Washington, D.C. • In 1996 FAA reauthorization legislation passed that included revised provisions related to scheduled passenger service at reliever airports (Public Law 104-204). Specifically, "Section 404. Certification of Small Airports" changes the certification requirements for small airports. The old requirement was that any airport accepting scheduled passenger service with aircraft Of more than 30 passengers must be certified. The new law requires scheduled passenger service carrying 9 or more passengers to operate at only certified airports. Included in section 404 was a provision which stated: (f) Limitation on Statutory Construction -Nothing in this title may be construed as requiring a person to obtain an airport operating certificate if such person does not desire to operate an airport described in subsection (a). • Because the provision,says that no airport can be forced to obtain an operating certificate Jeffco, or any other airport, has the ability to deny scheduled service from an airport that intends to fly more than 9 passengers at a time. However, the FAA has chosen not to promulgate the rules to govern this section of the law. a The City would ask for your assistance in assuring the FAA acknowledge the existence of this law • and promulgate the rules in a timely manner. The City has sent similar letters to both Senator Campbell and Representative Hefley. Representative Hefley was the author of paragraph (f) sighted above, and faces similar concerns at Centennial Airport in Arapahoe County. Should you • 749 Main Street Louisville, Colorado 80027 303-666-6565 Fax 303-673-9043