The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has joined\nwith other stakeholders in filing a pair of motions in the U.S. District Court\nfor the Eastern District of New York asking to pause the planned closure of\nEast Hampton Airport (HTO) and supposed conversion of the embattled publicly owned\nairport to a private-use facility with access restrictions under a Prior\nPermission Required (PPR) framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAllowing this airport\u2019s closure and reopening to proceed\nwould undermine decades of federal policy and create a dangerous path by which\nother communities could similarly claim \u2018local control,\u2019 restrict access to\ntheir airports and destroy the functionality of the national air transportation\nsystem,\u201d said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The town of East Hampton stopped accepting federal grant\nfunds and ran out the 20-year clock on its grant-based obligations in September\n2021. The town board intends to close the airport May 17 and then reopen the\nfacility 33 hours later as a \u201cnew\u201d private-use East Hampton Town Airport (JPX).\nThe town asserts the closure will \u201cextinguish\u201d its remaining and ongoing\nstatutory obligations and enable it to impose onerous restrictions to curtail\naircraft operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those restrictions include some of the highest landing fees\nin the nation, bans on aircraft weighing more than 50,000 lbs. and on aircraft\nwith an Effective Perceived Noise in Decibels (EPNdb) on approach of 91 or\ngreater, trip limits on Part 135 and 91(k) operations, curfews and burdensome\nrequirements for IFR operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a motion of contempt filed May 14, NBAA and other\nclaimants assert the town\u2019s plan violates the permanent injunction issued by\nthe court following a 2015 attempt by the town to unlawfully impose very\nsimilar restrictions in direct contradiction to the Airport Noise and Capacity\nAct of 1990 (ANCA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read the Motion for Contempt<\/a> in its entirety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis new attempt [to curtail operations] is too clever by\nhalf,\u201d reads the motion, adding the town\u2019s scheme to impose restrictions \u201chas\nno basis in law and is contemptuous of this court\u2019s prior ruling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A new complaint further calls on the court to declare that\nthe town\u2019s attempted reclassification of HTO is preempted by ANCA, and to\nenjoin town officials from any further attempts to close the airport or impose\nnoise restrictions until the town complies with ANCA\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe town\u2019s actions \u2013 yet again \u2013 are an impermissible\nattempt to circumvent ANCA,\u201d the motion reads. \u201cThe court should enjoin the\nTown Board from doing indirectly what it previously enjoined the Town Board\nfrom doing directly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n