Santa Monica Municipal Airport satellite view
📍 Santa Monica⬆ 170 ft1 runways
KSMO · SMO

Santa Monica Municipal Airport

34.01580°N
-118.45100°W
ARR / DAY
52
▼ 15.0%
DEP / DAY
56
▼ 19.3%

Santa Monica Municipal Airport (KSMO/SMO) is a small general aviation airport located in Santa Monica, CA. It features 1 runway measuring 3,500 feet. SkyMeter has observed roughly 52 arrivals and 56 departures per day on average over the last 7 days.

Current weather

Latest METAR observation

7h ago
Temp
57°F
Wind
0 kts
0°
Visib
10+ km
Ceil
—
METAR KSMO 130851Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 14/08 A2995 RMK AO2 SLP141 T01440083 58002

Runways

1 installed

3,500 FT MAX
03/21
3,500 ft × 150
Asphalt● LITMED

Runway intelligence

Which runway carries the operations, observed over the last 30 days

21
93% of ops
2,489 land · 2,728 TO
03
7% of ops
199 land · 77 TO
Runway 21 carries 93% of operations (2,489 landings, 2,728 takeoffs) over the last 30 days. The next most-used is 03 at 7%.

Approach quality

Per-runway unstable-approach, go-around, and long-rollout rates

21 2,489 landings
UA 3%
03 199 landings
UA 8%
Approaches to 21 show a 3% unstable-approach rate (84 UA events from 2,489 landings).Phase B will add wind-correlation: which crosswind band produces most UA events.

Traffic behavior

When the field is busy: hourly + weekday vs weekend

Daily avg
107.5
flights/day · 3,225 total
Busy hour (local)
12am
also 9pm · 6pm
Day vs night
40%
06:00–20:00 local
Traffic concentrates around 12am–6pm local, averaging 107.5 flights/day. Weekend volume runs 0.8× weekday (89.8 vs 119.4 daily).

Aircraft character

What's actually flying here: top types over the last 30 days

Activity is led by (20% of 2,571 flights). Top three types: , , .

Communications Frequencies

2026-06-11
Type Freq (MHz) Hours
CTAF 120.100 —
TWR 120.100 0700-2100
TWR 257.800 0700-2100
GND 121.900 0700-2100
ATIS 119.150 0700-2100
APCH 124.300 —
APCH 124.900 —
APCH 125.200 —
APCH 135.050 —
APCH 263.025 —
APCH 269.000 —
APCH 317.500 —
APCH 363.200 —
DEP 125.200 —
DEP 263.025 —
UNICOM 122.950 —
WAYVE ST 119.850 —
KIMMO ST 119.850 —
OTHER 119.850 —
LCL/P 120.100 0700-2100
CTRUS DP 125.200 —
SANTA MO 125.200 —
PEVEE DP 125.200 —
OTHER 125.200 —
THRNE ST 126.700 —
OTHER 126.700 —
ZUUMA ST 128.500 —
OTHER 128.500 —
BONJO ST 128.750 —
OTHER 128.750 —
FERNANDO 134.200 —
OTHER 134.200 —
BOGET ST 135.050 —
CHOII DP 135.050 —
SANTA MO 135.050 —
OTHER 135.050 —
LCL/P 257.800 0700-2100
KIMMO ST 306.900 —
WAYVE ST 306.900 —
OTHER 306.900 —
BOGET ST 317.500 —
SANTA MO 317.500 —
CHOII DP 317.500 —
OTHER 317.500 —
PEVEE DP 323.275 —
SANTA MO 323.275 —
CTRUS DP 323.275 —
OTHER 323.275 —
FERNANDO 338.200 —
OTHER 338.200 —
ZUUMA ST 360.700 —
OTHER 360.700 —
THRNE ST 370.950 —
OTHER 370.950 —
BONJO ST 381.550 —
OTHER 381.550 —
Airport operations
ARTCC:
ZLA
Mag var:
12° E
Fuel:
100LL, UL94

Hourly traffic

Avg movements per hour · local time · last 30 days

peak 11 AM · 1 movement every 300 s
12a 1a 2a 3a 4a 5a 6a 7a 8a 9a 10a 11a 12p 1p 2p 3p 4p 5p 6p 7p 8p 9p 10p 11p

Pilot & community notes

3 comments from OurAirports (click to expand)

3
MarioDoesAviation
8/17/2026
re: Closed in 2028
Reply to @MarioDoesAviation: I meant, a huge public park, called "Santa Monica Great Park"
MarioDoesAviation
8/17/2026
Closed in 2028
Santa Monica Airport is closing on December 31st, 2028 after 50 years of complaints from locals (noise pollution, frequent crashes...) to be replaced by a huge parking lot
hamish
7/24/2007
A Great GA Alternative To KLAX or KVNY
A great GA alternative to LAX or Van Nuys, convenient to the Westside, Santa Monica / Venice, Pacific Pallisades, Malibu, and (at a stretch) Downtown. If you arrive IFR, note that the VOR / GPS approach (the only approach) is sometimes nicknamed the "Santa Monica Slam" with good reason: SoCal Approach will often vector you inside DARTS (the IAF) at 6,000' to keep you above opposing traffic going into Van Nuys, meaning you are some 4,000' above the minimum altitude for that segment with only a few miles to lose it at the inevitable "best forward speed" with a bunch of business jets in trail... Note that transient parking here is minimal, and sometimes non-existent: if you're planning an overnight stay, best book it with one of the FBO's (I used Supermarine, who were friendly and competent, even though I was in a lowly 172 surrounded by the Citations and Hawkers to the stars, etc.). Note also that with a few exceptions there are no defined runway exit points here -- you get off the runway wherever you can on the continuous apron (try not to hit a runway light...), and taxi past the continuous hold short line as fast as you can (otherwise tower will get rather unpleasant). Oh, and this is a busy airport, with a very diverse mixture of aircraft and pilots. (there's a lot of training being done here), and some stringent noise abatement procedures.
© SkyMeter · All flight data subject to ODbL attribution · Updated 16:44 UTC