{"id":665,"date":"2026-05-23T21:33:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=665"},"modified":"2026-05-23T21:33:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:33:05","slug":"flight-schools-sue-mesa-over-landing-fees-at-falcon-field-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=665","title":{"rendered":"Flight schools sue Mesa over landing fees at Falcon Field airport"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MESA, AZ \u2014 Two flight schools at Mesa’s Falcon Field airport are suing the city over $20 landing fees, arguing the charges threaten their ability to train the next generation of commercial pilots.<\/p>\n

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Owners of Thrust Flight Properties and CAE Aviation Academy filed the lawsuit against the city of Mesa. The <\/p>\n

Mesa City Council approved the landing fees in March, hoping to generate an extra $2.5 million every year.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit indicates CAE and Thrust account for half the landings at Falcon Field. The schools say the fees will add up and the money isn’t in their budgets.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Owens leads Thrust Flight School, where students aim toward a future in commercial aviation.<\/p>\n

“It was the right move to protect the safety of our students,” Owens said.<\/p>\n

Owens says he is worried the city’s demands could lead toward pilots missing out on sufficient instruction.<\/p>\n

“We want to be sure we’re delivering the proper training with the right amount of training and we do believe the landing fees are a threat to our ability to deliver that proper training,” Owens said.<\/p>\n

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A statement from the city of Mesa says the lawsuit has no merit and city leaders intend to operate the airport with financial responsibility in mind.<\/p>\n

Darian Harman is working toward his pilot’s license, using an independent instructor as his trainer.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s important to keep Falcon as a training airport,” Harman said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a great busy airspace, and I think there’s a lot that happens here for training. I’d hate to see that go away,” Harman said.<\/p>\n

Two additional pilots, who declined to speak on camera, believe the city is just trying to make an extra buck or two.<\/p>\n

Thrust and CAE have also filed a complaint with the FAA protesting Mesa’s landing fees.<\/p>\n

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Two flight schools at Mesa’s Falcon Field airport are suing the city over $20 landing fees, arguing the charges threaten their ability to train the next generation of commercial pilots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mesa-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFlight schools sue Mesa over landing fees at Falcon Field airport - Arizona Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=665\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flight schools sue Mesa over landing fees at Falcon Field airport - 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