In 2000, Congress passed the National Parks Air Tour Management Act, which requires the Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service to develop a plan or voluntary agreement for each park where air tour operations occur or are proposed.
When the agencies failed to create the plans, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Hawaii Coalition Malama Pono filed a lawsuit in 2017 asking the court to order the FAA to draft either air tour plans or voluntary agreements for seven parks within two years, the Associated Press reported at the time.
On May 1, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the NPS and FAA to develop and implement a plan for bringing 23 parks into compliance. This includes Haleakala along with Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii island.
