Shortening Runway 'Severely Limits Jet Operations', CJP Says

The Citation Jet Pilots Owner Pilot Association (CJP), an organization of more than 800 owners, pilots, and enthusiasts of the Cessna Citation line of light jet aircraft, is monitoring developments following an unprecedented settlement regarding the future of embattled Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) in Southern California.

Under terms of the settlement announced Saturday, January 28 and hailed by FAA Administrator Michael Huerta as an “innovative agreement” reached through "mutual cooperation between the FAA and the city,” Santa Monica officials are required to keep SMO open through Dec. 31, 2028 - more than 11 years from now, and five years after the city's obligations to maintain SMO under terms of a 2003 federal grant would have expired.

However, the settlement also allows the city to immediately move to shorten the airport's single runway to 3,500 feet, from its current length of 4,973 feet. The reduced runway length restricts SMO's suitability for operations by turbine-powered aircraft. "In fact, it severely limits jet operations," said CJP Executive Director Andrew Broom. "A shorter runway at SMO means that dozens of our members based throughout Southern California will not be able to safely utilize a valued airfield in the Los Angeles basin. I find it somewhat baffling that the FAA would accept, never mind celebrate, such a compromise."

Two major aviation trade associations also responded to the terms of the settlement agreement, with the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) calling the move to shorten SMO's sole runway a "one-of-its-kind development."

"We are disappointed that the government decided to settle this case, especially given that NBAA has long been committed to aggressively supporting business aviation access to SMO, through every legislative and legal channel available," added NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. "If there are further avenues available to us, we intend to explore them."

"We are not done fighting for Santa Monica," said Mark Baker, President and CEO of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). "We are working to learn more about the fine points of the settlement, but our main goal ... to keep this airport permanently open and available to all general aviation users ... remains unchanged."

Broom welcomed those sentiments, adding that CJP will also consider its options as further details of the settlement agreement come to light. "We need to fight to keep airports like Santa Monica in our communities, as they are the backbone to our nation's aviation infrastructure," he concluded. "Unfortunately, today's developments remind us all- too well of the sudden closure of Chicago's Meigs Field in 2003, and this certainly establishes a troubling precedent for other communities that may wish to take similar actions against their hometown airports."

(Source: CJP news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.citationjetpilots.com