Story ID: 
LA Officials Ponder Whiteman Airport Closure
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: But the airport is not going away anytime soon
Word Count: 269
The rumblings over the possible closure of Los Angeles-area Whiteman Airport (KWHP) continue to increase after Los Angeles County District 3 supervisor Lindsey Horvath confirmed she ordered the County Department of Public Works to no longer accept FAA airport improvement project (AIP) funding grants for the airport, which would add 20 years to the city’s obligation to operate the airport from the date of acceptance. In 1999, KWHP was awarded $1,220,000 in AIP funding grants, with some of it earmarked for land purchase for approaches. It received nearly $150,000 in 2020.
Speaking at a local neighborhood council meeting earlier this month, Horvath noted that the order was “not a final judgment” on the airport, which is facing attacks from some local elected officials citing adverse noise and health effects. A bill to ban the sale of leaded aviation gasoline at California airports by 2031 is currently under consideration by the state’s legislature.
KWHP—a dedicated GA airport located just 19 miles north of Los Angeles International Airport (KLAX)—features a 4,120-foot main runway and sees more than 80,000 operations a year.
In April, the county of Los Angeles board of supervisors directed the county’s CEO to develop a study on the potential land use of the 184-acre airport property as well as an economic analysis of impacts to the county and local community should it be closed. The CEO later recommended that a four-phase study be performed at a cost of more than $1 million, and the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity will go before the board of supervisors next month to request authority to launch it.