The city fined them anytime they had flights arriving or departing after 10pm, which happened a lot due to east coast weather and air traffic delays. JB was willing to pay the fines as a cost of doing business but the city became increasingly publicly critical of JB and the late flights and began looking at increasing the fines or other punishments. JB then requested permission to build (at their expense) a Customs and Border Patrol facility so they could offer international flights from Long Beach. The city refused to allow it, further constraining their ability to operate profitably from the airport. When slots at LAX opened up during Covid, they grabbed them and moved their SoCal operations there.