Space-Available Transportation : An Analysis of the Cost of Providing 'Free' Travel

The purpose of this study is to estimate the costs borne by the government for providing space-available travel to eligible uniformed services personnel and their dependents. As the primary provider of the space-available privilege, it is important that the Air Force have an estimate of the burden that the administration of that privilege places on the budget. In January 1993, the Air Force discontinued its 15-year-old practice of charging a fee for space- available travel aboard AMC-owned or controlled aircraft. The fee had been set at $10 in 1978 and was collected to recover a portion of the costs associated with providing space-available travel. At the time of cancellation, the fee was less than one third of those costs, which were estimated to be approximately $32. The cost of space-available travel consists primarily of personnel expenses and the cost for the additional aviation fuel required for transportation. Naturally, as salaries and fuel prices continue to rise, so does the cost of space-available transportation. This study estimates the current per-passenger cost to be $42, and given the volume of space-available traffic this amounts to approximately $16,000,000 annually. These rising costs may warrant consideration of once again collecting a nominal space-available fee.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'Space-Available Transportation : An Analysis of the Cost of Providing 'Free' Travel', published 1999 under ISBN 9781423552963 and ISBN 1423552962.