The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned its new Air Station Ventura during a ceremony Wednesday morning in a hangar at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu.
The Coast Guard has been running helicopter operations out of the base in a temporary arrangement since 2016, when Air Station Los Angeles closed after more than 50 years of service.
In 2021, the Coast Guard broke ground at the Point Mugu base for a permanent, $70 million station that includes a 48,000-square-foot hangar and an administration building totaling more than 12,000 square feet.
The air station has been up and running since the spring, covering the coast from Orange County to San Luis Obispo County. One new helicopter, an MH-60 Jayhawk, is already operating out of the facility and two more will be added in coming years, according to Cmdr. Amanda Sardone, the station’s commanding officer.
Most construction is complete, though workers are still finishing an outdoor taxiway, Sardone said.
The station has already been called into action for three helicopter rescues, airlifting two sick individuals from cruise ships and one diver with decompression sickness from a vessel near Anacapa Island.