Lexington Alarm!’s New Research on Shutting Down ICE Flights at Hanscom Field

ByToby Sackton

Lexington Alarm! has completed a research project on how Hanscom field was developed as an airport for small regional airplanes and how the use of large planes there by ICE may be illegal under Massachusetts laws and regulations. Use of Hanscom is limited to airplanes with 60 seats or less and the ICE charters are clearly in violation of this.  The FAA defines ICE contractors such as Eastern and GlobalX as providing commercial passenger service, just like Delta or American, and this is exactly the type of service originally limited to 60 seats.

Massport has claimed it can’t take action due to federal preemption. That is generally true. No local airport has been able to regulate capacity or airplane size since the Aircraft Noise Control Act of 1990. But that act contained a grandfather clause. The 1980 Hanscom regulation is fully protected under that law from federal preemption, meaning Massport is free to use that 60-seat regulation as it was intended: to keep large planes out of Hanscom field except in rare and unique circumstances.  Other airports grandfathered in this way, such as Santa Monica and John Wayne airports in California, have won lawsuits over the FAA and were able to preserve their local regulatory rights.

We have launched round two of our letter campaign to the Governor and to Massport, and urge you to take one of two actions on our campaign page. Send a quick two-minute email or mail a formal letter to all members of the Massport Board and the Governor urging them to end ICE flights by using the law currently in place and grandfathered under the ANCA of 1990.

If you want to dive deeper you can read our entire 60-seat research document here.

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