A compromise that AOPA had hoped to broker to keep Florida’s Lantana Airport open when President Donald Trump visits his Mar-a-Lago estate has been rejected by the Secret Service, according to two Florida politicians who have been briefed on the matter.
U.S. Reps. Lois Frankel and Ted Deutch, both Florida Democrats, told the McClatchy News Service that Secret Service officials say they cannot allow aircraft to take off from the airport that is home to several general aviation businesses, including flight schools and a banner towing company, that say they have lost significant revenue with each of the president’s trip to the “Winter White House.”
Because the airport is only about 6 miles southwest of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, the Secret Service says traffic from airplanes and helicopters based there could pose a security threat even if the aircraft are directed away from the resort. AOPA had proposed an airspace cutout in the TFR around Mar-a-Lago to give GA traffic access to the airport.
Trump has visited Mar-a-Lago four of the seven weekends he has been president and there have been more than 30 violations of its airspace even with Lantana Airport closed, the report noted.
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