Can Sea-Tac Airport restrict operations on its runways?
No. The FAA is the only entity that can manage aircraft runway operations or aircraft in flight at Sea-Tac Airport. Furthermore, as a recipient of grant funds from the FAA, the Port of Seattle, operator of Sea-Tac Airport, must abide by specific FAA-imposed obligations and conditions. One of these is that Sea-Tac will not restrict or limit airfield access based on noise. This means, for example, that a Port-imposed nighttime curfew preventing aircraft from landing on or departing from the third runway would violate FAA requirements. Some airports, like John Wayne Airport in Orange County, still have airfield access limitations, such as curfews on commercial aircraft at night that were instituted prior to the 1990 federal Airport Noise & Capacity Act (ANCA). Except for those that were implemented prior to November 1990, ANCA prohibits regulations or amendments to existing restrictions that limit airfield access. ANCA also provides for the complete phase out of all noisy Stage 1 and Stag
