New fees imposed at two San Mateo County airports

County board adopts $75 landing fee for charter flights at San Carlos, Half Moon Bay airports

The Mercury News
August 8, 2017
By Kevin Kelly

San Mateo County is introducing two new fees at two airports to address impacts from an increase in charter flights.

The county’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted new fees for charter flights into San Carlos Airport and Half Moon Bay Airport that will be paid by charter operators and passengers. Beginning immediately, all charter flights will be charged a $75 landing fee at both airports.

In addition, for a six-month trial period, passengers at San Carlos Airport will be charged $10 a day for vehicle parking. At the end of the period, the board will review the parking fee and consider whether to continue imposing it. The parking fee was rejected for Half Moon Bay Airport because it has sufficient parking. The board also adopted a new policy that will allow airport cameras to be used to verify incoming charter flights and then bill the operators.

The landing and parking fees together are expected to generate roughly $150,000 in net revenue annually, according to a news release. The landing fee will go toward offsetting increasing costs needed to maintain runways, taxiways and aircraft parking areas, as well as additional staffing and expanded hours of operations to deal with the increase in charter landings.

“While the total number of operations has remained steady over the last five years, commuter and charter operations have increased significantly in that same period,” the release states.

Surf Air is one of five charter operations that fly out of San Carlos, according to the airport. Of the charters, Surf Air runs the most flights by far and is the only one that has scheduled departures.

The board argued that the $75 landing fee is consistent with landing fees charged at several nearby airports. The fee is supported by the San Carlos Airport Association, the California Pilot Association and the San Carlos Airport’s aviation consultants.

Read the Article >>