I strongly urge all affected to write their MP over this issue, as I have just done. Don't be apathetic. Enough of us can roll them if we stick together. We did it over that fiasco, the 1% rule, and we should be able to do it again.
Quote from stuff.co.nz
“The authority's move from Petone to the Asteron Centre in Wellington's Featherston St,which was criticised in 2009 by then Transport Minister Steven Joyce forcosting $8.5m, was "undoubtedly" a driver behind the new charges,King said. In a statement, the authority conceded the fee increases would not have been as much if it had stayed in Petone.”
This is the fourth move I can remember (oops, my age is showing) and it has also been controversial in the past. This organisation can usually justify their inept actions in the interests of public safety. Ask your MP to find out for you just what is being enhanced in the name of safety with the extra $313, or in my case $626, and just what are the details of the new medical service they are providing for the money? Surely they must be doing something worthy with the money.
If they try to claim that they have been undercharging in the past then ask your MP to find out who the inept manager is and what the MP is going to do about having such inept managers in an important government body.
Quote, Gerry Brownlee:
"As you know, there is currently no fee for the administration of the Civil
Aviation Authority's medical certification process. I am advised that the cost of providing these services is funded by passenger safety levies, which airlines pay to the Civil Aviation Authority on a per-passenger basis. This means that airline passengers are effectively fully subsidising private pilots."
What a load of bollocks! And if not then we should still ask for the scalps of those responsible for the situation. Anyway, I'm not a private pilot so I guess I won't need to pay the fee after all. I will expect to have my personal air travel get cheaper now that my ticket won't be subsidising all you private pilots that are causing this travesty.
