Santa Monica Airport

Santa Monica Airport (IATA: SMO, ICAO: KSMO, FAA LID: SMO) (Santa Monica Municipal Airport) is a general aviation airport largely in Santa Monica, California, United States, in the Greater Los Angeles area. It opened on April 15, 1928, making it one of the United States' oldest airports, and it has been one of the world's foremost general aviation airports (at one time, the busiest single-runway airport in the world).
The airport is about 2 miles (3 km) from the Pacific Ocean (Santa Monica Bay) and 6 miles (10 km) north of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2009–2013 categorized it as a reliever airport. The airport is scheduled to close at the end of 2028. Santa Monica Airport covers a total of 215 acres (87 ha) of land.
One of the airport's former hangars, the Barker Hangar, is in use as a public events venue, and is commonly used for a number of televised awards ceremonies and concerts.
Originally Clover Field, after World War I aviator 2nd lieutenant Greayer "Grubby" Clover, the airport was the home of the Douglas Aircraft company.
The first circumnavigation of the world by air, accomplished by the U.S. Army in a fleet of special custom built aircraft named the Douglas World Cruiser, took off from Clover Field on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1924, and returned there after some 28,000 miles (45,000 km).
The first Powder Puff Derby originated from Clover Field, and the field hosted aircraft of pioneer aviators Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, Wallace Beery, and Wiley Post, among others.
Cloverfield Boulevard — which confuses the field's naming for a crop of green rather than a fallen soldier — is a remnant of the airport's original name, as is the name of the Cloverfield film series, which derives its name from that road.
Clover Field was once the site of the Army's 40th Division Aviation, 115th Observation Squadron and became a Distribution Center after World War II. Douglas Aircraft Company was headquartered adjacent to Clover Field. Among other important aircraft built there, Douglas manufactured the entire Douglas Commercial "DC" series of reciprocating-engine-powered airliners including the DC-1 (a prototype), DC-2, DC-3, DC-4, DC-5 (only 12 built), DC-6 and DC-7. During World War II, B-18 Bolo and B-18A bombers and thousands of C-47 (military version of the DC-3) and C-54 (later the civilian DC-4) military transports were built at Santa Monica, during which time the airport area was cleverly disguised from the air with the construction of a false "town" (built with the help of Hollywood craftsmen) suspended atop it.
In 1958, Donald Douglas asked the city to lengthen the airport's runway so that Douglas Aircraft could produce and test the DC-8 there. The city, bowing to objections of residents, refused to do so, and Douglas closed a plant that had employed 44,000 workers in World War II, moving airliner production to Long Beach Airport.
With the departure of Douglas, the airport became a principal general aviation "reliever" airport for the Greater Los Angeles area, accommodating mostly business aircraft, training aircraft, and personal planes.
In 1968, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in exchange for an airport-development grant, contracted with the City of Santa Monica to ensure the airport land would be used for aviation services, including fuel, maintenance and fixed base operations, until 1988.
Starting in the late-1970s, the airport became the object of numerous political battles seeking to limit or close the airport—ultimately becoming a key precedent for various such airport battles across the nation—pitting local area residents, land developers and local government against airport users and general aviation industry organizations, sometimes supported by the FAA.
Initially, residents off the departure end of Runway 21 complained of noise, and the Santa Monica city government imposed a noise limit of 100 decibels on departing aircraft. Airport supporters, including airport users, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA), and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), fought the city in federal court.
However, in their first conflict, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a city could impose reasonable restrictions on airport activity and noise. The City responded by preparing 85 decibel restrictions, which threatened to oust most aircraft from the field. It also began other actions against the airport, including evictions of most aviation operators.
Further, in 1981, the airport's 215 acres (87 hectares) occupied five percent of the usable land of Santa Monica, in the heart of the burgeoning population of the Greater Los Angeles area, making it highly desirable real estate for development. One study indicated that intense development of the airport land could double the city's revenue.
Additionally, the city was mostly populated by apartment renters, and rent-cost control was a primary motivating factor in city elections at the time, with the result that liberal candidates who had expressed the desire to close the airport, and/or develop new low-cost housing, were elected to 6 of the 7 city council seats.
Battles between opponents and defenders of the airport have continued, with various court decisions and FAA legal opinions emerging, favoring one side or the other. However the airport has remained open throughout the rest of the 20th Century, and into the 21st.
In 2009, with jet traffic increasing at SMO, studies by UCLA and the South Coast Air Quality Management District warned that SMO was a source of abnormally high air pollution in the area, particularly for ultrafine particles that threatened the health of children and the elderly, and those with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. In neighborhoods downwind of the airport, ultrafine particles were measured at 2.5 to 10 times the normal amount. The FAA attempted remediation by controlling the timing of engine run-ups and positioning of aircraft, but some residents complained that the measures failed to resolve the problem.
In 2017, the FAA agreed to let the city shorten the runway from 4,925 feet (1,501 m) to 3,500 feet (1,100 m)—effectively blocking most jets from using the airport—and allowing the city to completely close the airport by 2028. A legal challenge to the agreement, backed by the NBAA, failed in court.
In 2022, the Frieze Art Fair announced that its Los Angeles edition would move to the airport in 2023, occupying a massive temporary tent designed by Kulapat Yantrasast’s architecture firm WHY and hosting more than 100 exhibitors in addition to expanded programming and activations.
U.S. Presidents Donald Trump (in 2019) and Joe Biden (in 2022 and 2023) both landed at SMO during visits to the area—arriving in their Marine One helicopter, after first arriving at Los Angeles International Airport aboard Air Force One.
The airport has a control tower. On average, it handled 296 operations a day (for the 12 months – ended July 2011. Traffic decreased to 83,381 annual operations in 2014.
As the Santa Monica Airport is one of many general aviation airports in the nation that is surrounded on some sides by residential development, the City of Santa Monica aggressively enforces one of the most stringent noise ordinances in the nation. In addition to responding to the community's noise concerns and enforcing the City's Aircraft Noise Ordinance, which includes a maximum allowable noise level, curfew hours and certain operational limitations, airport staff is involved in a variety of supplementary activities intended to reduce the overall impact of aircraft operations on the residential areas surrounding the airport. The following procedures and limitations are enforced in accordance with the noise ordinance. Violations may result in the imposition of fines and/or exclusion from Santa Monica Airport.
In addition, there are numerous recommended noise abatement procedures and limitations that have been incorporated into the airport's Fly Neighborly Program and included in the program's outreach materials.
The aviation aspects of aircraft operations at the Santa Monica Airport and use of the nation's airspace is regulated by the federal government through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The City is jurisdictionally preempted by federal law from establishing or enforcing new local laws that would affect aircraft operations or the use of airspace around the Santa Monica Airport.
The Typhoon Restaurant (now closed) was the only restaurant on the airport property with a runway view. The former Spitfire Grill, now the Cloverfield restaurant, is across Airport Avenue. The restaurant The Hump was closed in 2010 after its chef and owner were arrested for serving whale meat.
The Museum of Flying at the airport houses a collection of historic aircraft. A new facility was built on the south side of the airport and is now open.
One of the airport's oldest buildings, next to the restored Douglas DC-3, hosts the U.S. Civil Air Patrol's Clover Field Composite Squadron 51.
On August 1, 2005, the Santa Monica City Council implemented a landing fee program (Resolution No. 9855) for all aircraft based on a uniform rate of $2.07 per 1000 pounds of maximum certificated gross landing weight. Since the Santa Monica Airport receives no federal, state or local funding to operate, the landing fees fill the gap between other airport revenue and the cost of operations. On April 13, 2013, the rates were increased to $5.48 per 1,000 pounds of maximum certificated gross landing weight.
Airport Park opened as an 8.3-acre (3.4 ha) public park on recaptured aviation lands at the southeast corner of the airport. The park features a synthetic turf soccer field, open green space and off-leash dog area.
Santa Monica Airport includes Barker Hangar, a former aircraft hangar that was converted to a 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m) entertainment venue. The hangar was originally built in 1954 by Bill Lear, inventor and founder of the jet manufacturer Learjet. He intended to use the hangar to build a private fleet of jets, but was denied permission by the city. Lear thus sold the building to Pacific Airmotive, who then rented the space to private jet owners. After Pacific Airmotive went out of business in 1969, the hangar was sold to former Pacific Airmotive engineer James Barker, who then used the building for aviation-contract engineering. After he died of leukemia in 1986, his daughter Judi converted the hangar to the present-day events venue.
The hangar has hosted a variety of events, including boxing matches, art presentations, movies, concerts, wine and food festivals, and trade shows. The 2005 album INXS: Live at Barker Hangar is a live recording of a 1993 concert held at the hanger by Australian rock band INXS. Award shows hosted at the Barker Hangar include the MTV Movie & TV Awards, the NBA Awards, and the People's Choice Awards. It was also used as a small-scale supermarket set for the 2020 version of Supermarket Sweep.
The city has invited the public to offer input regarding the airport's future. The city of Santa Monica sued the federal government seeking to void a 1948 agreement in which the city agreed to keep the land for aviation use in perpetuity in exchange for title to the property. On February 13, 2014, Judge John F. Walter dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the city's "quiet title action" was barred by the statute of limitations and that the other issues would not be ripe for a judicial decision until the city decides definitively whether it will close the airport.
The city appealed on October 14, 2014, citing the expiration of the 1948 agreement, after which FAA had agreed to release control of the city-owned parcel. The appeal also noted that the FAA's leasehold, granted during World War II, was for that purpose alone, and could not be transformed into a larger interest (such as a permanent taking of city land by FAA demanding use of the land for air-travel purposes in perpetuity). There has yet been no finally conclusive legal decision, nor any preclusive agreement reached between the city and the aviation interests/FAA. An array of issues exists, which are still hotly debated in local, state, and national political arenas – as well as the courts.
The consensus opinion is that the many issues will ultimately be decided in the courts, with the dates of transfer-of-control being the central issues. In November 2014, voters passed the city-council-sponsored Measure LC, with a 60% "yes" vote. Measure LC places limitations on land use once the airport is closed. It proscribes commercial development, limiting development of the land to "public parks, recreational facilities or open space." However, it allows the city council to decide what constitutes such facilities and to replace existing structures without voter approval.
Cited reasons for public support of airport closure are an alleged threat to safety, despite no ground fatalities in the neighborhood around the airport in over a century, including a November 26, 1993, crash by a student pilot into an apartment building directly adjacent to a gasoline filling station, in a densely populated area of the city, and resulting in three fatalities (none on the ground).
The western parcel of the land on which the airport sits was to revert to city control, on June 15, 2015, of this sub-parcel of the city-owned land, by expiry of prior city-FAA agreements. One tactic recommended by airport opponents is to demolish the portion of the runway which sits upon this land, with the primary justification being safety. That is, at a minimum, the allowance of a buffer between the end of the runway and residential houses – currently 300 feet away – more preferably with the installation of aircraft-arrestors to prevent any runway overshoot from rolling past the runway and into the residential homes. The FAA offered such an arrestor system to the city in 2008, but this offer was rebuffed.
On January 28, 2017, it was announced that Santa Monica city officials and the Federal Aviation Administration had reached an agreement to close the Santa Monica Airport on December 31, 2028, and return 227 acres of aviation land to the city for eventual redevelopment. It is anticipated that the airport land will be redeveloped into areas for parks, open space, recreation, education and/or cultural use.
In an attempt to reduce jet traffic, the city decided to shorten the runway from 4,973 feet to 3,500 feet by repainting the runway and moving some navigational aids. The runway shortening was completed on December 23, 2017.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency