Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

Santa Monica Airport (SMO) backers received another setback after the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California dismissed a case challenging the FAA’s Consent Decree and Settlement Agreement with the City of Santa Monica that clear the way for the city to close the airport in 10 years.

 


The court dismissed the case in its entirety, the city said. The case, filed by Barry Rosen, had sought to prevent the city from closing the airport after 2028 and require it to restore SMO’s sole runway to 5,000 feet.&nbsp;The agreements between the FAA and the city also enabled the city to shrink the runway, and the city accordingly shortened the runway to 3,500 feet late last year.

 


The district court decision followed the denial <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2018-06-14/nbaa-vows-continue-fight-smo">by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last month </a>to review a petition by NBAA to overturn the settlement agreement.&nbsp;That court ruled that that only the Ninth Circuit in California could review the case.

 


The district court also dismissed the Rosen case on procedural grounds, but Mayor Pro Tem Gleam Davis also noted, “[With] this ruling, as with several similar rulings from other courts in the past eight months, the U.S. District Court reaffirms the validity of the historic agreement between the City of Santa Monica and the FAA as a Consent Decree.”

 


Meanwhile, since the runway has been shortened, jet traffic at SMO has been reduced by 80 percent, according to Suja Lowenthal, senior advisor to the city manager, adding the reduction “far exceeds our own projections and those of others. We are happy to have been wrong.”

 


NBAA has said it plans to continue its fight to preserve the airport.

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2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

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News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

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