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.
