One of the hidden joys of experiencing a national park comes down to seeing it from different angles.
In the Grand Canyon, different operators offer everything from the standard helicopter tour from Las Vegas to river-rafting through the Colorado River and off-roading trips through the less-visited North Rim.
Parks such as Yosemite and Yellowstone are particularly popular among hikers and campers, while Zion in Utah attracts those interested in canyoneering.
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Commercial national park air tour ban to come into effect in June 2025
In the last year, several national parks have been cracking down on those who want to see their territory from the air.
Last June, a federal court in South Dakota upheld a ban on air tours at Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore National Memorial, while Montana’s Glacier National Park is slowly phasing out commercial plane and helicopter tours by 2029.
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The latest target of the National Park Service (NPS) is Canyon de Chelly in northeastern Arizona. Officially designated as a national monument rather than a full park, the three canyons stretching across 83,840 acres are made up entirely of Navajo tribal trust land on which more than 40 families currently reside.
The ban on air tours was approved together with the NPS and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and will take effect 180 days from Dec. 19. This means that visitors looking to experience the park by air will no longer be able to do so by June 2025.
Operators such as Canyon de Chelly Tours and Southwest Safaris, which currently offer visitors helicopter tours over the area, will also need to discontinue any services in which they fly over the area by that time.
The new rules also ban commercial planes and helicopters from coming within a half-mile or 800 meters of the national monument’s boundary.
National Park official: ‘Prohibiting commercial air tours protects these lands’
“Prohibiting commercial air tours protects these lands’ cultural and spiritual significance to the Navajo Nation,” Park Superintendent Lyn Carranza said in a statement. “Canyon de Chelly National Monument’s Air Tour Management Plan honors the unique nation-to-nation relationship regarding decisions affecting the park and helps to preserve one of the most important archeological landscapes in the Southwest.”
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While the main reason for the decision came down to the canyon’s cultural significance to the Navajo Nation, air tours over the area have also been heavily criticized for their environmental impact.
While it gives off the appearance of being a desert ecosystem, the canyon is home to dozens of bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian species, some of which have been increasingly suffering from the effects of air pollution.
The changes leave room for non-commercial plane and helicopter operators to apply for clearance to fly over the park for any specific needs that they may have.
“Commercial air tours have occurred over Canyon de Chelly for many years without operating parameters,” the NPS wrote further. “Implementation of an Air Tour Management Plan [ATMP] helps protect park resources, visitor experience, and tribal lands within the ATMP boundary, without compromising aviation safety or the air traffic control system.”
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