Flying from the team’s home base in Providence, Rhode Island, to the first road game Sept. 17 in New Orleans on one of the private 767s, the team would be charged an estimated $1,100 in fuel taxes. That’s higher than a typical private jet because the twin-aisle 767, designed for long-range international routes, burns more fuel.
But it’s still far less than if the team made an identical flight on a chartered 767. The taxes on a charter would be more than three times higher, an estimated $4,700, based on published rates and Boeing’s estimate of fuel use. The team’s private flight would also raise far less than a plane load of Patriots fans would pay taking an airline from Boston to New Orleans -- about $2,400 -- even though they’d be on a much smaller plane that burned significantly less fuel.
Patriots spokesman Stacey James declined to comment.
If the purpose of aviation taxes is to create an equitable way to pay for the air-traffic centers, computers and radars, the existing system is a failure, said Robert Frank, a professor at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.
“It doesn’t sound like this fee structure comes even close to imposing fees on the costs respective users impose on the system,” Frank said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.