Santa Monica jet ban overreaches, would flout FAA

June 29, 2010 at 1:11 pm | Posted in Aviation Law Current Event | Leave a comment

by Sara M. Langston with the blog faculty

Source: AOPA

The city of Santa Monica has no authority to ban certain jet traffic from Santa Monica Airport, AOPA told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia June 28.

Santa Monica city officials adopted an ordinance in March 2008 to ban Category C and D aircraft (such as Gulfstreams and some Citations and Challengers) from operating at the airport—a move that could pave the way for restrictions at and even closures of airports across the nation based on local complaints, without consideration of those airports’ role in the national air transportation system. AOPA and the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) filed a friend of the court brief regarding the city’s appeal of an FAA decision that the city had no authority for the ban…more