Overview
- Mesa’s City Council approved the $20 landing fee for Falcon Field on March 23 to raise about $2.5 million a year for airport operations and improvements.
- Two schools, CAE Aviation Academy and Thrust Flight, filed a federal lawsuit in late May and a joint FAA Part 13 complaint asking regulators to review whether the fee violates federal grant assurances and other laws.
- Mesa said the suit lacks merit, hired Anderson Kreiger to defend the program, and plans to activate its landing-fee tracking system on July 30 with billing data collection starting Aug. 1.
- The schools say the fee will sharply raise costs for students, limit repetitive training landings needed for proficiency, and one operator estimates more than $500,000 in first-year costs.
- Mesa Gateway has paused its own proposed landing-fee program and tied its rollout to whether Falcon Field begins collecting fees, and the dispute could escalate to a formal FAA Part 16 proceeding or court rulings.