Florida's Palm Beach County has finally ended its battle with the FAA over a ban on private jets at Palm Beach County Park Airport (KLNA), formerly known as Lantana Airport.
The county, which operates four airports including Palm Beach International, had attempted to maintain the ban on aircraft over 12,500 pounds, which originlly was imposed nearly five decades ago, but was tested in a 2016 situation where a private jet pilot landed at KLNA in a Cessna Citation and was threatened with fines and jail time. The pilot petitioned the FAA to investigate the legality of the ban from a federal airport improvement program funding perspective.
While the FAA ruled that the ban was "unreasonable and unjustly discriminatory," the county continued to spend thousands of dollars in legal fees in challenging the agency.
The case was eventually referred to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which sided with the FAA noting in its November 18 ruling that Subsection (a) of Grant Assurance 22 requires sponsors to 'make the airport available as an airport for public use on reasonable terms and without unjust discrimination to all types, kinds, and classes of aeronautical activities.”
The court further added that the Airport Noise and Capacity Act which the county cited in its defense generally prohibits “airport noise and access restrictions on the operation of ...Stage 3 aircraft.” The Citation in question fell under that category.
Local officials and residents say they will continue to press the FAA on noise mitigation and safety enhancements at the airport whose longest runway is 3,489 feet. The county had initiated a Part 150 noise compatibility study for the airport, which it claims was paused due to the litigation.