FAA rejects Lantana Airport jet ban
A Florida reliever airport violated terms of its federal grant agreements when it denied a Cessna Citation jet access to the airport and threatened its owner with arrest, the FAA ruled in a complaint brought by the aircraft owner.
Palm Beach County unjustly discriminated against Captain Errol Forman, a retired airline pilot, when it notified him that landing his personal aircraft at Palm Beach County Park Airport (Lantana Airport) twice in May 2016 violated an airport jet ban imposed decades earlier. One of the letters raised the possibility of a fine or jail time.
Noting that Lantana Airport had received $6,353,815 from the federal Airport Improvement Program since 1982, the decision cited the county for skirting a requirement to make the airport available to “all types, kinds, and classes of aeronautical activity on fair and reasonable terms, and without unjust discrimination.”
The FAA rejected Palm Beach County’s motion to dismiss the complaint as “a matter of local law and not within the FAA’s jurisdiction.” Local law “does not act to supersede” federal grant assurances, the FAA said.
The FAA ordered the county to submit a corrective action plan within 30 days that details how it will revoke or rescind the jet ban, a timeframe for doing so, and how Palm Beach County plans to make users aware of the change. As of Feb. 27, the county’s airport website still noted that jet aircraft were prohibited.
The decision reaffirmed an informal conclusion issued by the FAA’s Southern Region in December 2016 that the airport's jet ban was discriminatory and inconsistent with grant terms.
'A big boost'
“I hope this is the end of it,” Forman told AOPA by phone, adding that he moved his Citation jet from Lantana to North Palm Beach County Airport when the dispute began.
Forman, a 20,000-hour pilot who flew for Eastern Airlines for 25 years, said he attempted to explain to local officials that a turbofan jet like his Citation 501 is much quieter than the pure turbojet airplanes targeted by the ban, but got no response.
Forman said he doubted he would return to Lantana despite receiving excellent service from the airport fixed-base operation there. A factor in that decision was the temporary flight restrictions that are frequently ordered in the area for presidential visits, when “nothing moves in Lantana.” At his new base, “I can file a flight plan and get in or out,” he said.
The FAA’s action gave general aviation its second win of the month, following closely after Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill that provided $3.5 million in relief for three airports that lost significant revenue during the airport shutdowns ordered during Trump’s visits to his properties in Palm Beach, and Bedminster, New Jersey.
“This decision is a big boost for Lantana Airport, which has seen its operations and revenue decrease dramatically during the Mar-a-Lago presidential temporary flight restrictions in the winter season,” said AOPA Southern Region Manager Steve Hedges.
Jonathan Miller, president of Stellar Aviation, the Lantana Airport FBO, agreed.
“It’s going to be good for business,” he said.
Miller added that he was “encouraged by the wording that the FAA used,” which was “more than direct about the frivolous nature of some of the claims the county tried to make.”
Palm Beach County can appeal the decision to the FAA associate administrator for airports within 30 days.
