Jet ban to end at Palm Beach’s Lantana Airport after lengthy legal battle

 “Palm Beach County Park Lantana Airport photo D Ramey Logan.jpg from Wikimedia Commons by D Ramey Logan, CC-BY-SA 4.0”

After a federal court ruling and a recent decision by an appeals court to not take up an appeal a decades long ban of jets has ended at Palm Beach County Park /Lantana Airport (LNA), in Palm Beach, Florida. With backing from the FAA, a pilot had challenged the county government, stating the ban was outdated and that modern and quieter jets should be allowed to land.

Now, on advice that further appeals could cost millions in federal support to four area airports, local leaders are giving up the fight, according to the Palm Beach Post, paving the way for jets to fly into and out of the airport.

Lantana’s history, noise ordinance and jet ban

After an increase of business jets in the area in the late 1960s and early 1970s, local residents urged for a noise ordinance to ban jet aircraft from landing at the airport. Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) is about five miles north of Lantana and serves as the primary airport for the area. Lantana airport had aging facilities and needed major repairs and upgrades to remain competitive. In the 1970s, the airport applied for federal aid to improve infrastructure, landscaping and ramp improvements.

In 1969 a VOR system was installed at the airport, and a VASI system was installed on runways 10/28 and 16/34 in 1973. Lantana expanded in the 1980s and saw an influx of business in the 90s and the airport became a jump-off point for flights to the Caribbean.

Fighting the jet ban

Twice in May 2016, Errol Forman, a former commercial pilot, landed his personal Cessna jet at the airport. As an ordinance prohibited any “pure turbo-jet aircraft” and any cargo-carrying aircraft that weighed over 12,500 pounds, the county threatened Forman with fines and jail time.

Forman went to the FAA to complain, and according to a U.S. Court of Appeals document, he stated that the ordinance violated a grant assurance that had been made to the FAA by the county in exchange for federal airport improvement money. The FAA agreed with him and ordered the county to rescind the restriction on jets. According to the court document, the county and city of Atlantis, which borders Lantana, petitioned for a review of the FAA’s decision. Last month, the 11th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals declined to hear the appeal of the FAA’s decision.

FAA grant and assurances

The FAA gives grants to airport sponsors for airport improvements to maintain a safe national airport system. The court document stated that in exchange for these grants, airport sponsors must agree to certain obligations. Some of these obligations include maintaining the airport and operating safely and efficiently by the given specifications and conditions.

Based on the two grant assurances given, the FAA agreed that the ban should be lifted. Grant Assurance 22, “Economic Nondiscrimination” required its sponsors to make the airport available for public use both on reasonable terms and without unjust discrimination to any type, kind or class of aviation-related activities.

The second assurance, grant assurance 1(a) required sponsors to comply with any applicable law, regulation, policy, order, requirement or guideline about the application and acceptance, and then subsequent use of federal funds. The court document stated that the assurance was subject to subtitle VII, which included the Airport Noise and Capacity Act (ANCA), which generally prohibited airport noise and access restrictions on the operation of stage two and three aircraft unless the restrictions met certain requirements.

Forman’s Citation falls under the ANCA mandate that requires any restrictions on this stage of aircraft to be fair and reasonable. However, ANCA does not apply to restrictions made before 1990, like those made at Lantana. The restrictions made before 1990 were grandfathered in as the FAA implemented ANCA and set out to research and make new noise restrictions.

Further restrictions and regulations

Lantana has been run as part of a four-airport system. With three relatively short runways and no control tower, the airport has been used to divert some general aviation traffic from PBI. Between 1982 and 2021, Lantana received more than $6 million through a grant program for federal airport development assistance. Because of this assistance, the airport is expected to follow all of the grant obligations and assurances.

The jet restriction at Lantana began in 1973 after the Board of County Commissioners passed a regulation that restricted aircraft and banned any over the 12,500-pound mark and any engaged in aircraft cargo operation. These restrictions were meant to limit excess noise by the noise ordinance.

After the regulation was sent, the FAA responded that they had no objections.

In 1988, the board also enacted an ordinance to promote airport regulations, which repealed all airport regulations adopted on or before Oct. 27, 1987. This new ordinance did not contain a jet restriction for Lantana like the 1973 regulation. It did, however, contain a provision that allowed the County airport director to restrict flights or any other operations at the airport.

By 1991, Atlantis and the county government agreed to the restrictions set on Lantana, and in 1992 the director of airports invoked his authority to prohibit any jet aircraft from operating or landing at Lantana. Another resolution passed in 1998 noted the board’s ability to pass certain rules and regulations to govern airports in the area, like Lantana.

Fighting the ban at Lantana Airport

Forman, who flew Boeing 727 jets commercially for 25 years, landed his Cessna Citation twice at the Lantana Airport in May 2016. The court document stated that one month prior, Forman had emailed the FAA’s Orlando Airports District Office about the ban. The office then contacted the FAA’s Southern Region Airports Division for further assistance. Forman was then given information about the Part 13 complaint process and emailed a complaint to the Airports Division, stating the restriction was a violation of the grant assurances given to Lantana.

As a response, the county stated the restrictions were grandfathered in and there had been no complaint by the FAA in the over 40 years since it had been put into place. The county chose to continue to enforce the original 1973 restriction, arguing that any changes or regulations since, like those in the ’90s, did not change or alter the original restriction.

Forman argued against the county’s claims and the Airports Division issued a preliminary Part 13 report in December 2016 and a finalized report in March 2017. Despite this, the jet ban remained, after which Forman filed a formal Part 16 complaint in August 2017. The county filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, which was denied by the FAA.

The agency agreed with Forman’s complaint that the jet restriction was not grandfathered under ANCA and the 1988 ordinance repealed the 1973 regulation, as well as the following 1991 restriction which had occurred after the grandfathering deadline.

It was concluded that the restrictions went against the grant assurances and unjustly discriminated against jets that are equally as loud as other aircraft allowed to land at Lantana.

The FAA found the county did not have the authority to continue to enforce the ban and needed to submit a Corrective Action Plan to revoke the restriction and then the county must publicize this revocation. County officials told the Palm Beach Post that they will now focus on trying to get the FAA to conduct a safety assessment of jet traffic at the airport and to address neighbor complaints about noise.