The Associated Press article on FAA funding, “Ticket taxes fund corporate jets, weekend warriors,” printed April 16, really missed the boat.

The article failed to discuss the many benefits these airports provide for the citizens of Maine. For many relief workers, farmers and small businesses, small airports serve as a major access point to areas of the country the major commercial airlines ignore. These airports allow student pilots to train as well as allow emergency crews to respond to disasters that threaten the safety of rural citizens.

The airlines are now pointing the finger at small planes and the airports that they serve as an attempt to justify a new plan to shift their tax obligation onto small-plane owners and pilots by increasing their fuel tax 300 percent and instituting new “user fee” taxes, all the while creating a tax break for themselves. To make matters worse, while the airlines are pushing this proposal under the guise of modernization, their plan would actually cut funds by $600 million. These are funds that could be used to modernize our air traffic control system.

The drastic tax increase on small planes would devastate the economies of rural areas in Maine and across the country that depend on these small planes for their livelihood.

The airlines say this is the best method to fund modernization of the nation’s airways, but in reality it is a way to line their own pockets.

Henry Ogrodzinski, Silver Spring, Md.

President, National Association of State Aviation Officials

Member, Alliance for Aviation Across America