The Federal Aviation Administration asked a federal court to dismiss a petition from the city of Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority seeking recognition of the local Airport Board appointed by Mayor Tim Kelly.
Judges and attorneys on the city’s lawsuit against the state of Tennessee had been waiting for the FAA to weigh in on the case. The agency overseeing U.S. airports argued the city’s petition lacked legal basis and the dispute over a state law could be handled in state court.
The city and airport authority filed the petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in June, one week before a state law replacing the local Airport Board went into effect.
While the local board members were selected by Kelly, six of the nine seats on the state board are selected by the Tennessee governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives. The other three are selected by the Chattanooga mayor, though Kelly, who opposes the state law, has not appointed new members.
(READ MORE: Mayor’s Chattanooga Airport Board bemoans slow legal challenge to state takeover)