I am the owner of Aviation Adventures, the largest Flight School in the Commonwealth with locations at Manassas, Stafford, Winchester, Leesburg and Winchester. I also own Manassas Aviation Maintenance that provides aircraft maintenance services to aircraft throughout the Northern Virginia area. First of all, a huge Thank You to our elected representatives for making Virginia the aviation-friendly Commonwealth that it is. Our airports and aviation infrastructure far exceed that found in all neighboring states, and is a principal reason behind the economic prosperity Virginians enjoy. I am asking you to perpetuate Virginia's place at the forefront of aviation by voting in favor of HB 1729 to continue the tax exemption on aircraft parts and supplies. To help meet the demand for the global Pilot shortage, we trained and certified over 200 pilots in 2023 and again in 2024. To do that we depend on well maintained aircraft that mostly come from aircraft owners who lease their planes to us. This model only works if the revenue received exceeds the cost of operating their planes. The cost of operating aircraft has steadily risen each year. No facet of operating cost has risen more drastically than maintenance. As the availability of certified mechanics has diminished, the wages needed to recruit and retain has risen. Aircraft parts suppliers and consolidating which reduces industry inventory and competition driving up the cost of parts and supplies by as much as threefold. We have gone from raising our aircraft rental rates about once every year, to now every year, and sometimes that does not keep pace with rising costs. With the rising prices flight schools are charging for their services, it would appear that the flight school business is very lucrative. It is not. It is a very thin margin business run mostly on the passion of those involved. Rising costs continue to drive area flight schools into bankruptcy. The current tax exemption on aircraft parts has made it possible for us, other flight schools as well as individual aircraft owners to stay afloat financially. This exemption is needed to continue in order to maintain our thin margins of profitability. If flight schools are pushed over the edge, thousands of aviation jobs will be lost. Together with that, Virginia will lose the associated revenue from income tax, aircraft sales tax and fuel tax. The airports will lose fees from hangars, tie-downs and facility rental. As you consider the positive impacts of the exemption, I would ask you to eliminate the 2,400 pound floor on parts . About half of our fleet is above and half below 2,400#. Thank you for your service to this great Commonwealth and for your consideration in this job-preserving Bill.

I am submitting comments in Support of HB 1729 - Post-Covid, Dominion Aviation, located at the Richmond Executive/Chesterfield County Airport, has seen dramatic growth in the company’s Aircraft Maintenance and Repair division. In May of 2022, the company employed 6 A&P mechanics; as of January 2025, the company employs 19 aviation mechanics and as well as a support staff of 6, all based in Virginia. Total company employment is currently at 94 employees. Ninety percent of the additional 13 mechanics relocated to Virginia from outside the Commonwealth. This growth almost quadrupled our maintenance revenue as well as our divisional payroll. The main reason behind this expansion is due to our renewed focus and expansion towards turbine aircraft maintenance. The company made the decision based on what we are seeing industrywide that maintenance facilities based in states without taxes on aircraft parts were growing and those with a tax on parts were declining in revenue and personnel, and many firms were relocating to non-taxable states. By keeping the aircraft parts tax exemption, you are directly receiving additional taxes on company revenues and payroll revenues. Not to mention non-direct benefit to the local communities such as travel, hotel and other revenue related to our transient customers. Without this exemption, you would not only lose the taxes and revenue mentioned above, but you would lose much of the upside of receiving the tax since turbine aircraft operators will over-fly taxable states to have their aircraft work on by maintenance companies located in non-taxable states. I recommend keeping the exemption of on aircraft parts taxes and keep Virginia a leader in aviation maintenance and repair. Thomas T. “Mike” Mickel Founder Dominion Aviation Services

Thank you for the opportunity to comment regarding HB 1729. Signature Aviation currently operates at five airports in the state of Virginia and has maintenance capabilities at three of them: Charlottesville, Roanoke, and Norfolk. We maintain aircraft models ranging from small single-engine piston aircraft up to midsize corporate jet aircraft. General aviation is thriving in Virginia, and I believe taxing aircraft parts would have a negative impact, potentially pushing our maintenance customers to adjoining states.