MESA, AZ — In a unanimous vote on Monday night, Mesa’s City council approved a $20 landing fee for all airplanes at Falcon Field Airport. It’s a move that’s created backlash from the aviation community and applause from homeowners in the area.
The new fees, which are scheduled to start in May, will give airplanes housed at the airport 10 free landings first. City leaders have been mulling the idea of this fee for months, adding that the fees are in place to help support the airport financially and repeatedly said the decision is not due to noise complaints. A city spokesperson told ABC15 the fees were proposed to help cover a projected $2.6 million in annual airfield cost center expenses.
Mesa City Councilmember Alicia Goforth supported the new fee.
"This is not an easy decision, but it is the responsible one," Goforth said in the meeting.
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Homeowners in the area have expressed concern over the airport for years, complaining about the noise and the amount of crashes that have happened in the area. Activity has increased exponentially over the years at Falcon Field. According to numbers from the City of Mesa, in 2025, the airport had around 475,000 operations, which includes planes taking off and landing. In 2024, that number was more than 424,000. In 2023, it was nearly 349,000 operations.
Some neighbors say they should not bear the burden of airport facility costs.
"What was once a beautiful place to live, I would never build my house where it is now,” one homeowner said in public comment.
The aviation community largely opposed the new fees. Curtis Brunjes, who works with multiple flight schools at Falcon Field, said it is not common for airports to charge landing fees for planes and businesses based at the airport, only for visiting airplanes.
"A $20 landing fee will eventually cause a flight school to leave. The city council says that’s not the goal, and I believe them. If that’s not the goal, then they’ve chosen the wrong path," Brunjes said.
With the fees put in place, Brunjes believes flight schools will leave, and the city will still face financial issues.
“The fees have gone up so dramatically in such an unprecedented way that some of the large flight schools really won't have much of a choice but to seek legal remedy,” Brunjes said.
ABC15 received a statement from the largest flight school based out of Falcon Field, CAE’s Senior Vice President of Communications said:
"With the City Council’s decision to implement landing fees at Falcon Field, we are concerned about the significant cost increases this will place on early-stage flight training. These added expenses will raise per‑student costs at a time when the aviation industry faces an acute pilot shortage, without improving safety or training outcomes.
CAE remains committed to constructive dialogue with the City of Mesa and to working together on solutions that preserve Falcon Field’s critical role in workforce development and the local economy.
At this stage, we are not in a position to comment further regarding any potential changes to our presence at Falcon Field."
