By Rich Pollack
It may be more than 20 miles away from Mar-a-Lago, but Boca Raton Airport and some of its neighbors will be feeling the impact of presidential visits beginning as early as this month.
The Federal Aviation Administration has announced that temporary flight restrictions will be in place for small jets and planes taking off and landing within a 10-mile radius of Palm Beach when President Donald J. Trump is in town.
Under those restrictions, most non-commercial passenger planes and jets wishing to land at Palm Beach International Airport must first clear at a gateway airport, including Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, or travel to another airport.
If the past is any indication, those restrictions are likely to have an impact on the number of planes coming in and out of Boca Raton Airport as well as on residents living near the airport who are likely to have more jets flying overhead.
“We do anticipate a pretty substantial increase in activity,” said Clara Bennett, executive director of the Boca Raton Airport Authority.
Bennett said that during President Trump’s previous term in office, jet activity at the small airport often doubled when he was in Palm Beach, and there were several weekends when the airport had to close because there was no place for aircraft to stay.
Weather, she said, played a part in that because bad weather kept some planes on the ground longer than expected, leaving no place for arriving flights.
“We’re a relatively small airport,” Bennett said.
Flight restrictions will also affect the Palm Beach County-operated airport in Lantana, which Bennett says will also mean an increase of traffic at Boca Raton Airport as some plane owners move their aircraft to Boca Raton temporarily.
Numbers provided by the airport from early 2017 when then-President Trump was in the area illustrate just how much of an impact the flight restrictions have on air traffic in Boca Raton.
On the last weekend in January 2017, there were 117 arrivals and 126 departures for a total of 243 flight operations. The following weekend, when the restrictions were in place, arrivals increased to 206, departures to 218 and total flight operations to 424.
Bennett said that the airport also saw an increase in international flights during the restrictions after the U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened in 2018 at the airport.
Although Boca Raton is outside of the 10-mile radius for primary flight restrictions, there are still limitations on what activities can take place because it is within a 30-mile radius of Palm Beach.
Aircraft operations at Boca Raton Airport are limited to aircraft taking off or arriving and no loitering is permitted. That means that the airport will be closed to flight training and touch-and-goes when the president is in Palm Beach.
Bennett said the restrictions will also mean a change in flight patterns, with air traffic controllers having small jets and planes avoid flying over Palm Beach, which could lead to jets flying over areas they normally avoid.
For those running the airport, the flight restrictions during Trump’s first administration have proved to be important in preparing for the latest restrictions.
“Now that we have the benefit of the first four years, we’re more proactive in our planning,” Bennett said, adding that the goal is to better manage the flow of traffic to minimize disruptions.
Bennett said that the airport authority has been working with the two companies that provide aviation services to aircraft at the airport — Atlantic Aviation and Signature Aviation — as well as with the FAA to put policies and practices in place to avoid problems.
One example, she said, is that when it appears that the airport is getting close to capacity, the control tower will work to reduce the flow of aircraft into Boca Raton.
One hitch that could complicate circumstances during the restrictions is construction at the airport, beginning in the spring of next year. Work will be done on the airfield at night, and that will mean no air traffic during that time.
Work will also be going on at one of the two companies that provide aviation services.
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