Welcome to the tech policy podcast. I'm Ashken Kazarian.

On today's show, we're going to talk about flight sharing. While sharing common business

models have changed transportation in many ways, the aviation industry has been a notable

exception thanks to the outdated regulation that stiffly models have changed transportation in many ways, the aviation industry has been a notable exception

thanks to the outdated regulation that stifle such behavior.

There is an Aviation Empowerment Act introduced by Senator Mike Lee that attempts to change that by updating and clarifying FAA rules

that have held back the innovation.

To discuss this bill and what flight sharing is, we're joined by Chris Kupman, senior director

of strategy and research for the Center for Growth and Opportunity at the Utah State

University.

Chris, thank you for joining us.

Thank you very much for having me.

So what does flight sharing even mean and how has, is there any practice?

Is there any precedent on this?

Yeah.

So flight sharing is a practice that has been accepted by the FAA since the 1960s.

So this is a private right of pilots that they've always had to share their flights with others

and engage in pro rata

cost sharing arrangements to defray the cost of flying an airplane. To be honest, flying is an

expensive hobby. Right. So you can imagine buying an airplane being expensive. Renting an airplane is

expensive. Maintenance and upkeep., maintenance and upkeep, take off

and landing fees, fuel, de-iscer, if you're flying in the winter, all of these things add up.

...