FAA to Santa Monica: Keep Airport Open (At Least Until 2023)

SANTA MONICA, CA — The city of Santa Monica lost another round in its effort to close the city's airport, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Federal Aviation Administration upheld its decision Monday that city must continue to operate the airport until at least 2023.

Santa Monica contends that the term the federal grant it used to improve the airport has expired. Santa Monica said the $1.6 million grant it received in 1994 expired in 2014. The FAA, however, said since the city the received an additional $240,600 in 2003, it was required to keep the airport open until 2023. Federal grants have a 20-year term.

The city countered that the additional money was an amendment to the original grant, not a new one. FAA’s associate administrator Eduardo A. Angeles didn't buy that argument and upheld the decision made in December by the agency’s Office of Airport Compliance director, Byron K. Huffman.

The city's next course of action, if it wants to continue, is to appeal the decision in federal court. The Santa Monica Airport was once home to the Douglas Aircraft Co.

For more on this story, visit the Los Angeles Times.

Photo credit: Daniel Baker, Wiki Commons