Mesa Gateway Airport Authority (MGAA) plans to begin charging a landing fee on certain smaller itinerant aircraft at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport on May 1, according to a March 31 letter sent to Greater Phoenix flight schools. The letter says the airport logged more than 300,000 total aircraft operations in 2025 and that more than 94.5 percent of those operations were general aviation. It also says the authority has been subsidizing an annual deficit in the airfield cost center with nonairfield revenue.
Fee Justifications
In the letter, Executive Director and CEO J. Brian O’Neill described the basis for the move and the new fee.
“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires airports receiving federal grants to be as financially self-sustainable as possible … MGAA currently uses non-airfield revenue to subsidize an approximately $2MM annual operating deficit in the Airfield Cost Center.”
Although Mesa Gateway already charges certain fees for larger aircraft, the new fees will apply to itinerant aircraft weighing less than 12,500 lbs MGLW. The $24.35/landing fee will begin on May 1.
Falcon Field Cited In Letter
The letter also says Mesa Gateway had previously considered charging lighter aircraft, but chose not to because of the possible effect on other airports in the region. It says that changed after Mesa’s recent approval of landing fees at Falcon Field.
Earlier this month, Mesa City Council approved a new fee schedule at Falcon Field that city officials said was needed to address airport operating and maintenance costs, while flight schools said the charges would increase the cost of training because many lessons include repeated takeoffs and landings.
O’Neill addressed Falcon Field directly in the letter and said the change altered the regional picture for airport operators.
“[Falcon Field’s] implementation of a landing fee on aircraft weighing less than 6,000 lbs MGLW represents a major environmental shift for aviation in greater Phoenix that will most certainly impact other regional airports,” O’Neill wrote. “MGAA, for example, now views imposing a landing fee on aircraft weighing less than 12,500 lbs MGLW as a viable revenue opportunity to help address Gateway Airport’s Airfield Cost Center operating deficit.”
A spokesperson for Mesa Gateway verified the facts in the letter but declined to comment further. Asked by AVweb whether the move was in direct response to Falcon Field’s new fee structure, including any effort to avoid an influx of flight training traffic from Falcon Field, she expressed that there was no such connection.
“The new fee was established to be able to cover those excess costs in the area,” she said, in reference to the airport’s airfield cost center operating deficit.
Was destined to happen. First, where do you think the traffic avoiding the fees at Falcon were going to go. Second, a (bad) precedent was set.
Unfortunately the (shrinking) GA community is caught in the middle. The mega flight schools are driving up traffic, costs, and noise. The locals are tired of subsidizing these programs indirectly by funding the airport.
The old model of being infrastructure (like a highway or a bridge) is broken by the shear volume of traffic large flight training operations in the region. While shrinking, there is still the regular Joe out there flying his Cherokee/Skyhawk/RV that just wants to see grandma or get a $100 burger. That group is caught in the middle, probably diverting away from the craziness. So in the long term they lose, the community loses (because the on purpose GA flyer is going to avoid this) and it increases the ‘doom loop’ of driving away business.
Solution? I would propose a twofold one. First, allow any aircraft a set number of free (or minimal) landings over a calendar period. This way you’re not scaring away the transient stopping for fuel, or in town to see grandma.
Second, this needs to be addressed on a regional level. As a region a policy needs to be adopted so that all airports in the area are covered and don’t have traffic pushed on them because other airports have fees. Every flight training organization in the area should pay into a pool on an operations per a quarter basis, with payouts to each airport weighted to the number of operations at specific fields. This addresses high volume operations, deters moving operations to non-fee airports, and lets the high use schools cover the costs that the airports incur to accommodate them.
Of course, that’s too logical and would never be adopted!
This should’ve been handled with a fuel tax, not landing fees. Inevitably landing fees disproportionally affect light aircraft. A fuel tax distributes the burden across who causes the most wear on the airport proportionally by default. There is no logic to having a $2.22/1000 lb. fee (per current airport website) for aircraft over 12,500 lbs., then a much higher rate for smaller aircraft.
Great observation. As much as I wouldn’t like it, 2.22/1000lb weight is palatable. $25 isn’t
Obviously they are targeting the flight training industry. They’ve forgotten that not every Skyhawk, Cherokee, etc is a trainer. GA pilots are not necessarily’rich’ either. I bought my last two planes for less than a new F150 pickup. It’s my hobby. While I’m not exactly poor, I’m not rolling in it as well.
This becoming the norm in many areas. Imagine if all other government services and facilities had to be supported by their users? Bus systems, public parks, bike lanes, etc? It’s flawed logic and I suspect the city omitted other revenue from flight schools and GA pilots in their calculations. I suspect this has everything to do with getting rid of the “riff-raff” on GA ramps so the G650 crowd doesn’t suffer any delays or have the peasants observing them too closely
Just gonna drive the general aviation pilots and their small aircraft somewhere else.
That’s the entire point. Has been for decades now. Get rid of the small airplanes to make room for the corporate jets etc who will pay more. It’s happening all over.