The GAO says required fees are largely absent from FBO websites. The report from the Government Accountability Office came out on 11 August 2026. Investigators posing as pilots placed covert calls to 45 fixed-base operators across 40 airports. They compared what they were quoted with what the same FBOs published online. Fuel prices lined up. Required fees did not.
The report is GAO-26-108578, titled 'Airports: Online Information Is Widely Available for General Aviation Fuel Prices but Not for Required Fees'. The review was mandated by a provision of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. Its scope covers ramp fees, facility fees, handling fees and event surcharges at general aviation gateways.
Fuel prices were readily available online. Any gap between phone and web quotes was usually under $0.50 per gallon. Required fees, by contrast, were inconsistent. Some FBOs published parts of a schedule and omitted others. Others quoted event surcharges only on request. Operators told GAO that special-event pricing was hard to publish because rates move with supply and demand.
The regulatory posture is quiet. Pilot groups told the GAO they were generally satisfied with what information was available. FAA officials said they were not aware of any formal complaints. FTC officials said they were not aware of any administrative actions or enforcement decisions on FBO price transparency. No new disclosure requirement is on the table.
For owners the practical takeaway is unchanged. Fuel is easy to compare across FBOs before departure. Ramp, handling and event fees are not. A pre-arrival call to the intended FBO remains the reliable way to confirm what the invoice will show. That is especially true at gateways in high-demand weeks.
Source: GAO-26-108578, 11 August 2026; Aviation International News, 12 August 2026.