South Florida has two of the busiest airports in the country practically next door to each other — Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International (FLL) and Miami International (MIA) — and neither one is where you want a light jet to live. Both move enormous volumes of airline traffic every day, and a light jet sharing that airspace and those ramps waits in the same sequencing, the same ground stops, and often the same fees built for aircraft ten times its size. The smarter address for a jet like the Citation CJ1 is a general aviation field, and ours lives at Palm Beach County Park Airport (LNA) in Lantana.
The big-airport grind
FLL and MIA exist to move airline passengers at scale, and everything about how they operate reflects that. Taxi and hold times track the volume of scheduled traffic on the field that day, not the size of your aircraft. Ramp and parking space is scarce and priced accordingly. Ground handling queues up behind widebodies and regional jets alike. None of this is a knock on either airport — it’s simply what a major commercial hub is built to prioritize, and it isn’t a light jet’s traffic. A CJ1 based at a field like that pays for congestion it didn’t create every time it moves.
What a general aviation field does differently
South Florida is unusually well supplied with general aviation airports built for aircraft like this one, among them Palm Beach County Park Airport (LNA) in Lantana, Boca Raton Airport (BCT), Pompano Beach Airpark (PMP), Opa-locka Executive (OPF), and Miami Executive (TMB). None of them carry FLL or MIA’s scheduled airline volume, which is the whole point — the traffic mix is lighter, and ground handling isn’t competing with a hundred airline turns an hour. For an owner or lessee flying a light jet, that generally means a simpler, more predictable trip from curb to wheels-up, and it’s a meaningful part of why basing at the right field keeps the cost and hassle of operating an aircraft down.
Palm Beach County Park Airport, known as Lantana Airport, is a county-owned general aviation field in Lantana, Florida. It is a general aviation airport rather than an airline hub, which is exactly what a light-jet base needs. Our CJ1 is hangared there, so the airplane is out of the weather between trips and you can walk up to it before you sign anything.
A base in the middle of the Palm Beach corridor
LNA sits in Palm Beach County, close to Palm Beach and within reach of Boca Raton, which is why it works for the south end of Palm Beach County and the northern end of Broward County. Exact drive times depend on the hour and on I-95 or the Turnpike that day, so check the route from your own door rather than trusting a rule of thumb. What stays constant is the principle: a general aviation field close to where you actually live and work beats a bigger, farther-flung commercial field, because the time you save is spent before you ever reach the airplane.
Why the base matters under a dry lease
This isn’t a small detail if you’re the one holding operational control. Under a Part 91 dry lease, you and your pilot decide when the aircraft moves — and a base without airline-driven delays makes every one of those decisions simpler. It also helps keep direct operating costs reasonable: less time burning fuel in a taxi queue and less exposure to congestion-driven ramp and handling fees. Our CJ1 is based at LNA for exactly these reasons.
It also matters for the everyday logistics of hiring your own crew, which is what a dry lease asks of you. A pilot flying into and out of a straightforward general aviation field spends less time working a busy tower and more time on the actual preflight — the kind of thing that adds up over a season of regular trips.
What a South Florida base puts within reach
A light jet based in South Florida has an unusually good map. Nassau and the northern Bahamas sit roughly an hour from Lantana, which is part of why the islands are such a familiar destination for CJ1-class jets flying out of this region. From there, the wider Caribbean and much of the Eastern Seaboard — the Carolinas, the Mid-Atlantic, New England — are realistic nonstop or short-technical-stop missions for an aircraft in this class. Worth repeating plainly here: that’s the aircraft’s reach, flown by the pilot you hire and pay directly under your own operational control — not a trip Palm Aero books or delivers. We lease you the airplane; you and your crew decide where it goes.
The takeaway
FLL and MIA are excellent airports for what they’re built to do — moving airline passengers at enormous scale. A light jet doesn’t need that scale, and basing at a general aviation field like LNA means it doesn’t have to pay for it either. If you’re weighing where an aircraft should live, see how a dry lease works or read what one actually costs before you decide.
Airport and location information above is general and offered for orientation only — always confirm current airport services, hours, and access with the field directly and with your pilot before operating there. Palm Aero Group is not a charter operator and holds no Part 135 certificate; it does not sell air transportation or provide flight crew. Under a dry lease the lessee holds operational control and operates under 14 CFR Part 91, hiring and paying their own qualified pilot. This material is general information, not legal, tax, or aviation advice; see our resources page or consult qualified aviation counsel for specifics.