Eleven of 24 U.S. national parks have completed drafts of court-ordered air tour management plans and released them for public comment.
That’s 21 years after the Air Tour Management Act of 2000 went into effect and a year after a federal judge ruled in favor of a suit by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Hawaii Island Coalition Malama Pono, or HICoP, which petitioned the court to compel the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service to enforce the law.
The act requires vendors conducting commercial air tours over national parks and certain tribal lands to first obtain a permit from the FAA. It also mandated that the FAA and NPS establish an air tour management plan (ATMP) that may prohibit or place conditions on air tours.
