Security breaches at center of FAA investigation of Las Cruces airport

LAS CRUCES — An ongoing federal investigation into Las Cruces International Airport centers on a dispute between the airport director, who is a city employee, and the city manager’s office regarding a staff member’s violations of security procedures, according to documents obtained through public records requests.

Federal Aviation Administration inspector Michael Fray contacted the city in a letter dated May 2 stating he was looking into allegations of noncompliance with federal regulations governing the airport’s Part 139 certification, which permits the airport to serve commercial flights. The certification mandates regular safety inspections and procedural checks, aircraft rescue and firefighting services, emergency response plans and wildlife hazard management.

Fray’s letter did not name any employees targeted by the investigation nor spell out the allegations in detail. He requested training records and materials for employees with access to the airport’s movement areas going back two years; incident reports; and descriptions of duties and responsibilities of workers tasked with routine maintenance in the movement area.

Two weeks later, airport director Andy Hume responded with requested documentation as well as an account of incidents involving an airport maintenance worker. On Wednesday, the city said a response from the FAA was still pending.

“We’re happy and willing to work with FAA and any outside partners to ensure that we meet all required standards at our airport,” a spokesperson for the city wrote.

Fray did not respond to queries for this story.

Hume provided a list of violations dating back to June 2023 in which the employee reportedly mowed grass within the runway safety area while the runway was active, repeatedly stood up while operating an ATV and failed to follow instructions and procedures in instances Hume said were addressed through instruction, counseling and warnings. In the fall of 2023, Hume reported that he reassigned the employee to duties outside the movement area — such as runways and taxiways — with limited activity in the operations area.

That personnel move led to conflict between Hume and the city manager’s office, including disciplinary action. Last November, Hume reported to the FAA, the office called on Hume to prepare the worker to return to duty “on the airfield, movement area and inside the fence line.”

The city declined to comment on any personnel-related matter.

Meanwhile, one of the airport’s commercial operators expressed concerns of its own on March 12 of this year. Francis Aviation, a fixed-base operator at the airport, wrote to Hume about two incidents in which the worker allowed visitors into its facility outside of business hours with none of its staff present.

“Although he may be trying to be helpful and courteous, this is not an acceptable security practice especially as you and your staff are buckling down on security access,” Francis Line Service Manager Justin Miller wrote in an email to Hume, flagging potential liability claims as well as security breaches.

Francis Aviation declined to comment for this story.

On the same day Miller expressed his concerns, the city’s airport operations manager, Briana Borrego, contacted Hume with details of four separate incidents, all involving the same employee, in 2024 and 2025. She described the events as “serious breaches of airport security.”

Prior to the incidents in which the employee reportedly allowed customers into Francis’ building unsupervised, Borrego reported that in December the worker escorted a man claiming to be an El Paso Electric employee onto the airfield after he showed up unannounced at the gate. On another occasion that month, Borrego said the worker encountered a malfunctioning access card reader but did not report it.

Despite the latest reports, Hume told the FAA, the city manager’s office suspended Hume for three days and issued a written reprimand in April because he did not return the employee to duty in the movement area as had been ordered.

Hume was reportedly informed of his discipline on April 18. On the following business day, he presented the airport’s updated master plan to the Las Cruces City Council, celebrating an FAA-approved forecast of aviation activity including interstate passenger air service as well as a $2 million state appropriation for infrastructure improvements and plans for economic development initiatives in cooperation with the neighboring city industrial park.

City Manager Ikani Taumoepeau directed Hume to return the employee “to his original role and responsibilities” by May 5, according to Hume. The city declined to release these communications to the Journal, saying they included matters of opinion pertaining to personnel.

Notwithstanding that order, Hume wrote to Fray that the employee “should not return to working within the movement area of the airfield,” while noting that the worker had been successful and earned praise for his work elsewhere at the airport.

The Journal asked the city whether the airport director and city manager’s office had reached an agreement regarding Hume’s authority to manage airport operations, including staff assignments. The city did not comment, calling it a personnel matter.

Part 139 certification is required for airports to serve scheduled or unscheduled aircraft with more than 30 seats, or scheduled operations with planes of 10 to 30 seats, or as otherwise required by the FAA. If an airport is found to be noncompliant with Part 139 requirements, potential enforcement actions include fines for each day an airport is in violation, limitations on where air carriers can operate or even revocation.

“The Airport Operations team and I have done our utmost to build and maintain safe and secure facilities over the past several years,” Hume wrote to the investigator. “We will continue our efforts, but I am concerned that there is a lack of understanding from our leadership about safety and security compliance; basic airport operations, inspections, and regulatory compliance; and how unsafe actions of one person can have dangerous consequences.”