NBAA Raising Concerns About Proposed East Hampton Airport Restrictions

Feb. 26, 2015

The East Hampton, NY Town Board has scheduled a public hearing for March 5 to solicit comments on a proposed town ordinance that seeks to place four significant operational restrictions on the use of the East Hampton Airport (HTO), a public-use facility on eastern Long Island. NBAA officials will be attending the hearing and will supply formal comments on the town’s proposal.

According to a press release from Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the four restrictions would include:

• A mandatory nighttime curfew, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
• An extended curfew on noisy aircraft, from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m.
• A ban on all helicopters on weekends during the summer
• A limit on operations by noisy aircraft of one trip (one arrival and one departure) per week during the summer

View a copy of the proposed town ordinance.

NBAA, along with the National Air Transportation Association and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, will be meeting with representatives of East Hampton in advance of the March 5 hearing to discuss the town’s proposal. The groups sent a letter to town officials earlier this month, expressing their support for the “continued availability of East Hampton Airport to all types of aeronautical operations,” adding that “it is important that HTO remain open and accessible, both for economic and practical reasons.”

Steven Brown, NBAA’s chief operating officer, said that the Association does not agree with the town’s approach of trying to implement access restrictions.

“The bottom line is that local airports do not have the authority to regulate the types of aircraft that can operate at that airport,” said Brown, adding that any noise and access restrictions that are unfair, unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory could be challenged in court by airport users, and possibly also by the FAA.

NBAA Members, and other stakeholders, can attend the upcoming March 5 hearing, which will be held at 4:30 p.m. at LTV Studios, 75 Industrial Rd., Wainscott, NY. Comments can be submitted to HTOComments@EHamptonNY.gov.

Final board action is expected in mid-March, according to the town press release.