Features Operations
Flight Operations: Charging to Get from A to B

As a professional pilot working for a commercial airline you are
usually interested only in a few significant things related to your
job: company solvency, your pay cheque, your medical, your upcoming
simulator ride, the aircraft serviceability and doing a good job. I
agree that this is a rather flippant overview because there are many
other areas you will contend with, but most would accept the basics as
stated. It is not the pilot's worry to think about what costs are
involved with the airline operation.That is management's
responsibility. Or maybe it isn't? When one considers fuel charges,
ground handling, aircraft leasing/purchase, parts, engines and a myriad
of other items, including the cost of using air traffic services….

ATC is a service provider.We get from A to B using ground-based
navigation equipment such as ADF,VOR/DME, onboard GPS or inertial
systems. We know how they work. We know what the information is and how
we use it to be in the right place at the right time.We work with
controllers who use sophisticated RADAR (an acronym for RAdio Detection
And Ranging) equipment and a selective identification frequency
transponder. But who is paying for it, what does it cost and how is it
paid for? Prior to the establishment of Nav Canada these costs were
absorbed by Transport Canada.

The reason I began to research this subject was to be able to
determine the costing of navigation fees for a business plan. It was a
navigation exercise in itself to get the right answers, and perhaps
this is where maintaining contacts within the industry has significant
value.The natural source of accurate information was Nav Canada.