NBAA: Government Works to Accommodate Business Aviation at PBI During Presidential Visits

Contact: Dan Hubbard, 202-783-9360, dhubbard@nbaa.org

Washington, DC, Jan. 19, 2017 – The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) today recognized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Secret Service, and other local, state and federal agencies, for their efforts to accommodate business aircraft access to Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) during presidential temporary flight restrictions (TFRs).

A TFR over PBI will be implemented when President-elect Donald Trump visits his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, which is located only 2.1 nautical miles from the airport.

“We have a playbook indicating what the FAA, TSA and Secret Service have planned for TFRs at PBI,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “While TFRs present extraordinary challenges for business aviation, and remain a blunt security tool that has remained largely unchanged for decades, these agencies’ efforts to utilize industry data to support expanded gateway options for this TFR are welcome.

“Going forward, we know that the economic impact of decreased business aircraft operations at PBI will be widely felt, and the government has agreed to regularly review these procedures, which we hope will identify greater efficiencies for this TFR, while also reducing the economic impact on operators and local businesses,” Bolen added.

The TFR will be active only when President-elect Trump is at Mar-a-Lago, and a specific NOTAM is issued. Additional details will not be published until an actual presidential trip to PBI is planned. At that time, NBAA will make the additional information available to members.

The President of the United States (POTUS) TFR for West Palm Beach will consist of a 10-nautical mile (nm) inner circle and a 30-nm outer circle, extending from the surface to 17,999 feet and centered around PBI.

When the PBI TFR is active, all operations will be prohibited with the inner ring of the TFR, except POTUS aircraft; military aircraft supporting the U.S. Secret Service; approved law enforcement, air ambulance, and firefighting operations; and scheduled commercial and cargo flights operating under TSA Standard Security Programs.

General aviation aircraft will be permitted inside the inner ring with use of gateway airport procedures, which will be outlined in a POTUS TFR NOTAM.

NBAA and others successfully advocated increasing the number of gateway airport locations to include three northern airports: Westchester County Airport, Teterboro Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport. Southern gateway locations include Orlando International Airport and Ft. Lauderdale International Airport. These gateway locations better reflect actual business aircraft operations and allow for more flexibility.

Some types of flight operations will be prohibited when the TFR is active, including flight training, practice instrument approaches, maintenance test flights, unmanned aircraft systems operations and others.

“NBAA appreciates the efforts of multiple agencies to accommodate business aviation at Palm Beach International Airport, but we also recognize that some significant challenges still exist,” said Doug Carr, NBAA’s vice president of regulatory and international affairs. “We look forward to working with the various agencies and industry partners to address – and hopefully minimize – the effect that the presidential TFR at PBI will have on business aviation and local businesses.”

Robert Berlucchi, PBI’s air traffic manager, will present a special information session regarding the TFR at NBAA’s upcoming West Palm Beach Regional Forum. This session, just added to the event agenda, will take place at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 26. Learn more about the NBAA Regional Forum.

Review NBAA’s resource on the PBI POTUS TFR implementation plan.

View NBAA’s VIP TFR page, continually updated by the association’s Air Traffic Services staff. Sign up for Air Traffic Services Airspace/Airport Alerts.

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Founded in 1947 and based in Washington, DC, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is the leading organization for companies that rely on general aviation aircraft to help make their businesses more efficient, productive and successful. The association represents more than 11,000 companies and provides more than 100 products and services to the business aviation community, including the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition, the world’s largest civil aviation trade show. Learn more about NBAA at www.nbaa.org.

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