FAA Raises Doubts Over Changing East Hampton Airport to Private Use

Town board voted to close the airport and reopen with rules to cut noise.

Wednesday, February 09, 2022 at 06:15 PM ET

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Under the FAA’s recommended timeline, the airport would close on February 28 and reopen as a private-use facility on March 4. [Friends of the East Hampton Airport/Facebook]

Key Takeaways:

East Hampton, N.Y., plans to close its airport on February 28 and reopen it as a private-use facility on March 4 to reduce aircraft noise.
The FAA has complicated these plans, warning that restoring the airport's current capabilities after deactivation could take up to two years, partly due to required environmental analysis.
The town's decision follows the expiration of FAA grant assurances last September, which previously required the airport to continue operating publicly.

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An FAA letter to the town board of East Hampton, N.Y., could complicate plans to close the East Hampton Airport (KHTO) later this month and reopen it shortly afterward as a private-use airport that would require aircraft to get permission before landing there.

The board voted late last month to move ahead with the plan, but in its letter sent February 2, the FAA said it “may take approximately two years to restore the current capability to the airport if it is deactivated,” in part because of environmental analysis that would take place.