TED GAINES
First District, Sacramento
SALLY J. LIEBER
Second District, San Francisco
ANTONIO VAZQUEZ
Third District, Santa Monica
MIKE SCHAEFER
Fourth District, San Diego
MALIA M. COHEN
State Controller
YVETTE M. STOWERS
Executive Director
No. 2024/002
STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
PROPERTY TAX DEPARTMENT
PO BOX 942879, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 94279-0064
1-916-274-3350
FAX 1-916-285-0134
www.boe.ca.gov
January 24, 2024
TO COUNTY ASSESSORS:
VALUATION OF CERTIFICATED AIRCRAFT
CALIFORNIA STANDARD FLIGHT TIMES
Revenue and Taxation Code
1
section 1153.5 provides that on or before March 1, 2020 and on or
before each March 1 thereafter, the Aircraft Advisory Subcommittee of the California Assessors'
Association (CAA) shall designate a lead County Assessor's office for each commercial air carrier
operating certificated aircraft in California after soliciting input from commercial air carriers in
the state (commercial air carriers will be notified of the designation on or before March 15).
2
Each
commercial air carrier's property statement for its personal property and fixtures at all airport
locations in California is filed with its designated lead County Assessor's office. The lead county
calculates an unallocated value of the certificated aircraft and electronically transmits the values
to each county where the commercial air carrier has situs.
Pursuant to section 1152, the allocation formula to be used by each County Assessor to value
certificated aircraft is the proportionate amount of time, both in the air and on the ground, that
certificated aircraft have spent in California during the 12-month period from January 1 through
December 31 of the previous year immediately preceding the lien date (January 1), as compared
to the total time during that 12-month period. Section 1152 provides the following definitions for
the allocation formula:
• Time in the air consists of flight time and taxi time within California borders and must be
based on the State Board of Equalization's (BOE's) "California Standard Flight Times"
table in the most recently published Letter To Assessors (LTA) that addresses intrastate
and interstate standard flight times. The standard flight times are multiplied by the number
of departures to and from the airports listed in the LTA.
• Ground time is all time in California that is not flight time or taxi time. Time on the ground
allocated to heavy maintenance that requires a certificated aircraft or scheduled air taxi to be
removed from revenue service shall be excluded.
1
All statutory references are to the Revenue and Taxation Code, unless otherwise provided.
2
Every third year thereafter, the CAA subcommittee shall redesignate a lead County Assessor's office for each of
these air carriers, unless an air carrier and its existing lead County Assessor's office concur to waive this redesignation.