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G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E
58 MAY 2017
Economics
President Trump’s weekends away from the
White House severely impact the industries
and commerce of metropolitan New York
and South Florida
General David Petraeus, a former head of the CIA, predicted
in January that Donald J Trump would be the “disrupter-
in-chief president,” and Mr Trump has amply earned the
designation. As noted by Foreign Policy, also in January,
he is not the first president of the US to upend the norms of
the nation’s foreign policy. But he is certainly the first whose
apparent aversion to spending any more time than necessary
in the White House can suppress the economies of two
important regions of the country.
Kate Murphy is a commercial pilot and Texas journalist who
writes frequently for the New York Times. Not long after the
20 January inaugural, she turned her attention to the Trump
effect on the environs of Mr Trump’s home city of New York;
and of Palm Beach, Florida, site of the Mar-a-Lago resort
which Mr Trump and his aides have taken to calling his
Winter White House. She began by defining the large bubble
of restricted airspace that follows the president wherever he
goes: essentially a no-fly zone reaching up to 17,999 feet
within a 30-nautical-mile radius of the president’s aircraft.
A nautical mile is just over a regular mile.
“If you fly into that ring without permission from federal
authorities,” Ms Murphy wrote, “fighter jets will be on your
wing before you can hum a few bars of Hail to the Chief.”
(“The Secret Service of the Skies,” 18 February)
This policy – in place since the terrorist attacks of 11
September 2001 – is causing more disruption than usual
because some of the busiest airspace in the nation for general
aviation is in New York and South Florida. Mr Trump’s current
home is, of course, the White House in Washington, DC. But,
when Ms Murphy’s piece ran in the Times, he was scheduled
to spend his third weekend in a row at Mar-a-Lago. At this
writing, his score is four weekends out of five.
‘SIGNIFICANT, IF NOT RUINOUS, LOSSES’
Major commercial airliners and cargo carriers, such as Delta
and FedEx, are unaffected by the temporary flight restrictions,
or “TFRs” in aviation-speak, because their personnel and
equipment undergo careful security screening whenever they
fly. But Ms Murphy explained that the TFRs compel general
aviation – private and corporate flights, flight instruction,
sightseeing tours, aerial photography, pipeline and utility
inspections, surveying, weather and pollution monitoring,
crop-dusting, banner-towing and more – to cease or curtail
operations. She reported, “Aviation businesses in New York
and Florida say they are facing significant, if not ruinous,
losses.”
According to the Eastern Region Helicopter Council, which
represents charter, medevac, news-gathering and sightseeing
operators, 100,000 helicopter flights go in and out of New
York City’s four heliports each year, while around 200,000
helicopters and small airplanes transit the scenic Hudson
River corridor. Jeff Smith, vice-president of operations for the
council, told the Times, “It’s like an Interstate [highway]”.
With a few exceptions, as for law enforcement and medical
emergencies, aircraft are now prohibited within a one-
nautical-mile radius of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New
York. That ring is expected to expand to a ten-nautical-
mile radius – covering almost all of Manhattan – when the
president is in town. Flights to and from airports within 20 to
30 nautical miles may continue, but only under burdensome
conditions for the pilots.
If President Trump should visit New York frequently or on
short notice, “the economic impact of these restrictions would
be tremendous,” said Rune Duke, the director of government
affairs at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).
A $1BN LOCAL ECONOMY IMPERILLED
Because Mr Trump has been avoiding New York since his
inauguration, the immediate pain is being felt by the formerly
robust general aviation community around Mar-a-Lago – a
flight training hub during a worldwide pilot shortage. According
to the AOPA, the six South Florida airports affected by
the presidential airspace restrictions “account for a local
economic output exceeding $1bn, create over 8,000 jobs and
have a total payroll of $290mn.”
Now, not so much, observed Ms Murphy. Palm Beach County
Park Airport, known locally as Lantana Airport, is some six
miles from Mar-a-Lago, and no departures are allowed during
Mr Trump’s visits. Jonathan Miller, the airport’s fixed base
operator, said, “We’re basically on lockdown when he’s here.”
Fixed base operators sell fuel, rent hangar space, manage
aircraft parking, and handle arrangements for visiting crew and
passengers. “You can’t even run an engine for maintenance”
when Mr Trump is in the area, which harms mechanic and
paint shop tenants, Mr Miller told the Times. “We understand
the president needs to be protected,” he said. “But this is
going to put us out of business.”
Palm Beach Flight Training, a school for pilots at Lantana,
has had to suspend training and cancel tens of thousands of
dollars in flights. The owner, Marian Smith, said she feared
G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E