While the town of East Hampton, New York, continues its plan to shutter the East Hampton Airport (KHTO) by the end of the month and reopen it days later as a private-use facility, the FAA has warned that the transition will not be as smooth and simple as the local legislators might think and could take up to two years.
In a letter to town supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, the agency noted that upon processing the town’s request to deactivate KHTO, all FAA-operated navigational, weather, and communications aids will be disabled and Class D airspace will not be applicable.
As it considers the request for private use, the agency will need to conduct an airspace analysis on the safety of using existing or contemplated air traffic patterns. The FAA added that private airports cannot use publicly funded procedures, engendering the development of special-use procedures that the town would be required to pay for. Further, the municipality would also have to pay the FAA to re-establish navigational, weather, and communications aids. The town could procure the equipment but would have to reimburse the agency to install, certify, and maintain it.
Further, the airport will be required to establish a letter of agreement with the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, as that facility cannot discern who does and does not have permission to access the airport. This raises concerns for the FAA about what methods the town will use to deny inbound aircraft permission to land, which could result in possible airspace disruptions or have safety implications.
Additionally, the town has expressed interest in operating a non-federal control tower once the airport reopens, raising further questions. The FAA is unsure if it could spend any appropriated federal funds to certify controllers at private-use KHTO; if the town agreed to pay these costs, the agency is uncertain whether such an arrangement would be legal under federal law.