SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The landscape of Santa Monica Airport has changed many times over the past 100 years.

Fields over orange groves and farms were developed into neighborhoods and business — and the Santa Monica Airport has been a mainstay through it all.

While many admire the airport for its rich history — and connection to some of the most famous flights and pilots in the U.S. — for 10-year-old Luis Peña, it’s simply a place where he feels joy.

“I love the clouds because it’s very bumpy, and then it rains and it’s so cool," he said. "It feels like I’m going to travel to the moon. It feels so good."

Luis is one of many people who utilizes this regional airport. He’s a recipient of Angel Flight West, a nonprofit that offers people free flights for medical purposes. At just 4, Luis was diagnosed with cancer. 

The flights have allowed Luis, who travels with his mom Maria, to receive consistent treatment at UCLA without driving hundreds of miles each way from their home in San Diego. Today, he is in remission but still must return to UCLA every three months for a check-in. Josh Olson, executive director of Angel Flight West, says the airport connects people across the West Coast to vital medical services.

“We’re talking about equity in California," he said. "We want to extend that equity so that everyone has access to that kind of care. Without Santa Monica Airport, that just wouldn't be able to be done easily."

Olson noted the airport provides a vital resource to many people — both in and out of Los Angeles.

“Many of the patients we are flying live in a rural area," he said. "They have an advanced illness there is not local treatment available for, or they have such a specialized illness that there are only certain facilities that are treating them."

Olson explained that Santa Monica Airport is located in a central area for several top hospitals.

However, not everyone sees the airport as beneficial. Neil Carrey is the president of the Airport2Park Foundation, a nonprofit that has been advocating for the closure of the airport and the development of a park in its place. Walking through Clover Park, which borders the airport, Carrey pointed to the potential hazards of having a recreational space so close to the regional airport.

“You can really see it from a health standpoint and a noise standpoint," he said. "We are standing at Clover Park. It’s one of the biggest parks in Santa Monica. There are softball fields and soccer fields, kids playing, and we are standing here close to the park and watching the airport, hearing the noise, seeing the pollution."

For years, Airport2Park’s goal of turning the airport into a park was a flighty idea — but it may soon become a reality. In January, the Santa Monica City Council voted to “approve the process to determine the future of the airport."

In 2014, Santa Monica voters passed Measure LC that permits the City Council to approve the development of parks, open spaces and public recreational facilities on the airport property.

Airport2Park has pointed to other examples of airports across the country and world that have been transformed into parks. Carrey says the parks would offer space and playing fields that would offer the whole city more places to play sports and spend time outside.

“It doesn’t benefit the community as a whole,” said Carrey, adding that “the benefit of open space is much greater.”

Regardless of what happens next, the airport will leave an imprint on the city of Santa Monica for generations to come. It’s already impacted 10-year-old Luis.

“I want to be a pilot," he said. "I want to drive a mini-jet. And I want to look at the sky, and I want to help people like me, who have cancer."