Faced with the possibility of losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding, the Los Angeles City Council reversed course Tuesday, allowing a helicopter company to lease Van Nuys Airport for up to 25 years, despite protests from nearby residents. .
Airport officials, the city attorney and Mayor Karen Bass warned that the city risks losing funding from the Federal Aviation Administration if the lease is denied.
“We’re screwed [approve the lease] It would jeopardize hundreds of millions of federal funds for critical projects in Los Angeles and all of our airports,” Bass said in a statement before the vote. “Our airports are the gateway to our cities for the whole world, and we must operate them as such.”
Mr Bass argued the vote was particularly urgent as the city prepares to host the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The City Council vote was 11-2, the culmination of a year of political battles that played out in courts, emotional public hearings, and behind closed doors in City Council chambers. The decision was a major defeat for city councilor Imelda Padilla, who had campaigned to block the lease.
“I firmly voted with my conscience and with my constituents to ensure that Van Nuys Airport respects and values the surrounding community,” Padilla, whose district includes the airport, said in a statement after the vote. City Councilman Hugo Sotomartínez also voted against the lease.
Padilla criticized the bidding process as “lacking transparency and fairness.” She repeatedly warned that the lease would result in expanded jet operations without measures to address noise and environmental impacts.
In March, Padilla convinced his colleagues to reject a proposed lease with Boncef Helinet LLC, but Boncef Helinet responded months later by suing the city.
Boncef Helinet is a joint venture consisting of Helinet Aviation Services, which operates a helicopter charter and maintenance facility at Van Nuys Airport. Castagna 1998 Trust. Boncef Holdings Van Nuys holds a majority stake in Boncef Helinet.
Helinet Aviation Services has operated out of Van Nuys Airport for more than 35 years, providing flights to the television media, fire departments, and entertainment industries. The company also functions as a medical helicopter charter company, transporting patients and organs to hospitals in the region.
The dispute over the airport lease highlights the legal hurdles facing areas surrounding airports where flights are regulated by the federal government. And the facility has resulted in amplified complaints from residents near the facility, where 300,000 flights will take off and land in 2021. The facility is the nation’s busiest general aviation airport, serving commercial aircraft and charter flights, but no scheduled commercial flights.
Neighbors have complained about toxic jet fuel, say unchecked growth in aviation and a lack of measures to protect the community mean their children can’t play outside. . Many fear that the facility improvements will allow the company to shift its focus to providing more profitable charter jet services.
Suzanne Gutierrez, a Lake Balboa resident and co-founder of the community advocacy group Fume Fighters, called the decision to approve the lease “a real slap in the face to the community.”
“The community is going to suffer. There is no mitigation for us. We are already suffering from emissions,” she said.
Helinet is investing $25 million to redevelop its airport facilities, demolishing two aging hangars and building two new ones, as well as planning new office space, retail and other improvements. are.
The airline said it will continue to focus on its current business and has no plans to increase its jet fleet. The company also notes that under the lease agreement, the company is prohibited from operating from a fixed base, like traditional jet charter services used by the rich and famous.
It emphasized using the industrial portion of the airport as a flight path rather than residential areas.
The Airport Commission, a seven-person committee made up of mayoral appointees, recommended a 25-year lease in December 2022 after a bidding process. Community activists argued that the process was not truly competitive, as Boncef Helinet was the only company that ultimately made a bid.
Padilla had warned that the lease would lead to increased airport activity and impose new burdens on voters. She persuaded her colleagues to reject the lease in March and secured City Council support for a draft new zoning plan for the airport area. The plan will consider new measures to combat jet noise and air pollution.
Boncef Helinet sued the city in May over its decision to deny the lease, saying the city council missed the legal deadline to accept the Airport Commission’s decision.
In its lawsuit, the company accused Padilla of exploiting the airport issue for his re-election bid two months ago. The company also said the City Council kept the phone’s audio on involuntarily during a closed-door meeting about the lease, allowing the public to hear city attorneys expressing concerns about the airport lease denial. insisted.
Around the same time, the Van Nuys Airport Association, a business group, filed its own complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration, arguing that the Legislature’s disapproval of the lease violated the city’s obligations under federal law. The group said the zoning change would be used to restrict airport operations.
The FAA investigated the complaint and tentatively determined that Congress violated a federal rule requiring cities to open their airports to aviation activities “without unreasonable discrimination.” The agency recommended that the city change its policy and gave the City Council until Oct. 24 to submit a “corrective action plan” on the issue.
The day before the deadline, the council met again behind closed doors. In a confidential memo, city attorneys told City Council members that if corrective action is not taken, the FAA will withhold important subsidies from the city not only at Van Nuys Airport, but also at LAX and Hollywood Burbank. warned that there was a possibility of
The memo, a copy of which was seen by The Times, said Los Angeles World Airports, which oversees three airports, “obtained more than $622 million in grants from 2019 to 2025.”
About half of those were “at risk” due to lease disputes, according to the memo.
The council reinstated the leasing process, which was taken up again by the Airports Commission last month.
On Tuesday, the council voted 8-5 to settle the lawsuit with Boncef Helinet, along with Padilla, Sotomartinez and council members Kevin de Leon, Monica Rodriguez and Bob Blumenfield. voted against. Under the agreement, Boncef Helinet agreed to drop the lawsuit and lobby for the redevelopment plan.
Representatives from Boncef Helinet declined to comment on the council’s decision.
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