Santa Monica residents and a newly formed advocacy group have filed a lawsuit against the City of Santa Monica, alleging violations of the California Environmental Quality Act in the approval of a commercial operations permit for scheduled passenger air service at Santa Monica Airport.
Measure LC Defense, along with residents Alan Levenson and Zina Josephs (vocal critics of the Santa Monica Airport), filed the case in Los Angeles Superior Court last week. The lawsuit challenges the city's Oct. 9 approval of a commercial operations permit for Delux Public Charter LLC, doing business as JSX Air, to operate scheduled public charter air service at the airport.
The Dallas-based air carrier submitted its application in September, proposing to launch daily flights using, a 30-seat turboprop aircraft. JSX markets itself as a hop-on public charter service offering streamlined check-in procedures, with operations at 29 airports across the United States and Mexico. The company said it identified more than 2,200 Santa Monica residents already using JSX services from other regional airports, accounting for over 14,000 trips in recent years.
However, the petitioners argue the city improperly relied on exemptions to avoid conducting a comprehensive environmental review before approving what they characterize as a significant departure from current airport operations. JSX plans to operate at least six daily flights, with the company's CEO publicly stating an objective of expanding to nine daily departures.
According to the lawsuit, Santa Monica Airport has never included daily scheduled passenger air service, operating instead as a general aviation facility serving flight training and charter services rather than commercial aviation. The petitioners contend that JSX's operations could potentially more than double the monthly consumption of jet fuel at the airport, from approximately 30,000 gallons to 66,000 gallons per month.
"This case seeks to enforce the public's right to environmental review under CEQA before the city introduces scheduled passenger service at a general aviation airport located smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood," the petition states.
The lawsuit identifies multiple environmental concerns that the petitioners argue should have been analyzed, including aircraft noise and frequency, fuel delivery and storage, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, traffic, ground access, safety, and emergency and fire response. The petition emphasizes that jet fuel consumption increases pollution of carbon and ultrafine particles into residential communities adjacent to the airport.
City officials have said the City has no discretion when considering the JSX permit for charter operations at the Santa Monica Airport, referencing a 2017 Federal Consent Decree with the Federal Aviation Administration. The consent decree requires Santa Monica to keep the airport open through Dec. 31, 2028, while complying with federal aviation laws and standards, and mandates that qualifying aviation uses be allowed to operate under limited-term leases during the airport's final years.
If approved, JSX's permit and lease would expire in November 2028, one month before the airport's scheduled closure.
The city claimed the approval was exempt from CEQA under three grounds: that it was a ministerial action, the "common sense" exemption, and a categorical exemption for negligible expansion of existing facilities. The petitioners dispute all three claims.
On the ministerial exemption, the lawsuit argues that Santa Monica Municipal Code expressly authorizes the city manager to exercise discretion in denying or conditioning commercial operations permits to address safety, economic viability, or environmental concerns.
Regarding the other exemptions, the petitioners argue that unusual circumstances and cumulative impact exceptions apply. They note that Santa Monica Airport is not a Part 139 certificated airport, meaning it lacks the aircraft rescue and firefighting capacity that certificated airports must maintain. The airport's runway protection zones are also 750 feet, significantly less than the FAA standard of 1,000 feet, with residences located within the area that should be part of such zones.
The lawsuit also accuses the city of improperly segmenting environmental review by separating consideration of the commercial operations permit from a lease that JSX will require to operate at the airport.
Petitioners are seeking a writ of mandate commanding the city to rescind approval of the permit for failure to comply with CEQA, along with injunctive relief preventing JSX from operating until the city has fully complied with environmental review requirements.