Why Trump's Palm Beach County visits are putting a financial strain on Lantana Airport
Palm Beach County Park Airport in Lantana is reeling from the temporary flight restrictions imposed when President Trump visits Mar-a-Lago. Planes cannot fly in or out of the airport, sandwiched between Atlantis and Lake Osborne Estates.
Twenty-five businesses are impacted, including multiple flight schools.
The airport, commonly referred to as Lantana Airport, is just 5 miles away from Mara-a-Lago. It employs 772 workers, has an annual payroll of $42 million and generates a local community impact of $42 million a year, according to a recent study undertaken by the Palm Beach County Department of Airports. More than 100,000 planes, most of them small ones, took off and landed at the airport in 2023.
When asked to detail presidential security impacts, the county Department of Airports' spokeswoman referred The Post to the local airport's fixed-base operator, Stellar Aviation. A spokesman there declined comment.
It's not clear exactly what the current financial losses are, but in 2017, the Washington, D.C.-based Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, acting on behalf of Lantana Airport, reported that the flight restrictions were decimating small businesses there, costing as much as $30,000 a day for a three-day presidential stay.
Stellar Aviation President Jonathan Miller estimated in 2018 that he'd lost $500,000 during Trump's visits, and that was early in Trump's term.
The financial losses are likely even higher for Trump's second term as costs have increased during the past eight years. Back then, Stellar Aviation said the impact threatened the survival of many of the businesses. Both the county and Stellar Aviation lose revenue from lost fuel sales, according to the county.
A banner-flying company reported a loss of contracts of $40,000 after three closings and a helicopter company relocated.
Assistant County Administrator Todd Bonlarron acknowledged that costs to county taxpayers will depend on how often the president visits Mar-a-Lago: the more visits, the greater the impact. As of Feb. 22, Trump had already spent 10 days at Mar-a-Lago during the month, including a six-day stint from Feb. 14-19. And he is expected to return this weekend as well.
About 100 small jets, including Lears and Cessnas, use the airport annually.
Military aircraft enforce the flight restrictions. The Palm Beach Post reported that the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, confirmed there were three airspace violations of the imposed presidential protected space during Trump's six-day visit to Mar-a-Lago in February. Two occurred on Feb. 15 and one on Presidents Day, Feb. 17.
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and issues impacting homeowner associations. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lantana Airport grounded when President Donald Trump visits Mar-a-Lago
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
12 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump Deploys National Guard To L.A. Amid Immigration Protests - Inside Politics with Dana Bash and Manu Raju - Podcast on CNN Audio
Trump Deploys National Guard To L.A. Amid Immigration Protests CNN Inside Politics 43 mins First: California clashes. Trump deploys the National Guard to crack down on immigration protests. As sources say the president could cut funding for the Golden State. How will this end? And: Breakup. Trump's feud with Elon Musk threatens his coalition. Can the president's agenda survive the onslaught? Congressman Mike Lawler joins us live. Plus: Election night. What will the first big primaries in Trump's second term tell us about how voters feel.
New York Post
18 minutes ago
- New York Post
Some LA migrant protests fueled by taxpayer-funded group with Dem ties — another with CCP link
One of the groups leading anti-immigration protests in Los Angeles is a taxpayer-funded activist organization with ties to the Democratic Party, while another has links to the Chinese Communist Party. The Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) — which received tens of millions of dollars in government grants during the Biden administration — staged a rally last week to denounce Immigration and Customs Enforcement arresting illegal migrants across the city, including those convicted of heinous crimes. 7 CHIRLA staged a rally last week to denounce Immigration and Customs Enforcement arresting illegal migrants across the city. REUTERS Advertisement Protests against ICE escalated since then, with more than 1,000 rioters taking to the streets, assaulting immigration officers, slashing tires and defacing public buildings, the Department of Homeland Security said, prompting President Trump to call in around 2,000 National Guard troops Sunday to quell the violence. According to financial records obtained by DataRepublican, CHIRLA received nearly $34 million in government grants, mostly from the state of California, in the fiscal year ending June 2023, a jump from the $12 million it received the previous year. 7 Protests against ICE escalated since then, with more than 1,000 rioters taking to the streets. REUTERS Advertisement The radical group also received around $450,000 in grants for 'citizenship education and training' between October 2021 and September 2024 from the DHS — the very agency the group was protesting last week. The federal agency cut ties with the group and terminated any further funding in March, including clawing back nearly $101,000 in funding that had yet to be paid out. A CHIRLA spokesman denied that the group had anything to do with the violence in a statement to The Post on Sunday. 7 CHIRLA received nearly $34 million in government grants, mostly from the state of California, in the fiscal year ending June 2023. He said CHIRLA 'organized a press event on Thursday' to protest the round-ups and had 'been sending legal observers to immigration courts and detention centers on Friday, Saturday and today as part of the LA Rapid Response Network. 'We have not participated, coordinated, or been part of the protests being registered in Los Angeles other than the press conference and rally cited above,' the rep said. Advertisement Rioting broke out in LA on Friday as federal authorities resumed the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, conducting numerous raids in recent weeks and netting 'around 150' arrests, according to Trump's hard-nosed border czar Tom Homan. 7 The radical group also received around $450,000 in grants for 'citizenship education and training' between October 2021 and September 2024 from the DHS. REUTERS Another group that was behind some of last week's protests is the Marxist Party for Socialism and Liberation, which played a part in virulent past anti-Israel campus protests at Columbia University and which was once associated with suspected DC terrorist Elias Rodriguez. PSL has ties to the Chinese Communist Party through funding from socialist billionaire Neville Singham and his wife, Jodie Evans, founder of activist group Code Pink, according to a 2024 report by the Network Contagion Research Institute. Singham sunk millions of dollars into backing the groups after selling his software company, ThoughtWorks, for $785 million in 2017. Advertisement 7 Rioting broke out in LA on Friday as federal authorities resumed the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. AP Singham's ties to the Chinese government and Communist propaganda are well-documented. The New York Times published a lengthy 2023 expose on his far-reaching money machine, which has steered millions to China-praising nonprofits from South Africa, Ghana and Zambia to Brazil, New Delhi and beyond. The PSL did not immediately respond to a Post request for comment Sunday. Rioters gathered Friday after the recent protests to attempt to stop ICE agents from carrying out the immigration sweeps, leading to officers deploying tear gas and other less-lethal methods of crowd dispersal. 7 Another group that was behind some of last week's protests is the Marxist Party for Socialism and Liberation. REUTERS More than a dozen arrests were made Saturday, said Bill Essayli, the United States Attorney for the Central District of California, on X. Images and videos showed hundreds of protesters clashing with riot gear-clad federal agents who were attempting to apprehend illegal immigrants near a Home Depot in Paramount, Calif. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and embattled Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass decried the raids, the latter claiming the federal agents used tactics that 'sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.' Advertisement 7 Rioters gathered Friday after the recent protests to attempt to stop ICE agents from carrying out the immigration sweeps. Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images In a statement on X on Saturday, Newsom wrote, 'Federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers. That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions. LA authorities are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment's notice.' In a fiery response to Newsom and Bass on Truth Social Saturday, President Trump said, 'If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!.'
Wall Street Journal
26 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
GOP Senators' Competing Demands Risk Pulling Trump Megabill Apart
WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) is trying to release this week a revised version of President Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' But as he races to pass the legislation ahead of Republicans' self-imposed July 4 deadline, he has got about as many problems as there are GOP senators, with lawmakers battling over the additional borrowing and spending cuts that will be used to finance tax relief, plus spending on the border and military.
