Airport Users Meet With Surrounding Community
A "town hall" meeting held this week involving users and
operators at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport, along with members of
the surrounding (non-flying) community, reportedly led to greater
understanding of the challenges of reducing noise and improving
safety at the airport.
In a release to ANN, the National Air Transport Association
(NATA) said Teterboro Airport Industry Working Group Co-Chairs
James K. Coyne and Joseph Fazio, along with Congressman Steven
Rothman (D-NJ) and representatives from the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey, held the meeting with members of the community
surrounding Teterboro Airport to discuss the recently announced
pledges to improve safety and security at the airfield.
More than 50 people, including a number of local mayors,
freeholders and other local elected officials, attended the event
that included spirited, constructive dialogue as to how the
airport’s users and tenants could work better with the
community in addressing its concerns about safety, security, noise
and the environment. Much of the meeting’s discussion focused
on traffic patterns into and out of Teterboro Airport and the
continued concern with the ILS approach that takes aircraft
directly over Hackensack Hospital.
"Last evening’s discussion was an outstanding exchange
between the members of the community surrounding Teterboro Airport
and the airport operators and tenants," NATA President James K.
Coyne said. "There were a number of residents who posed some
serious concerns about aircraft noise, emissions, and traffic
patterns into and out of the airport."
"We believe that new
technologies, including the use of Required Navigation Performance
and the elimination of circle-to-land approaches, are very good
steps to alleviate these concerns while improving safety and the
quality of life for those in the communities around Teterboro,"
Coyne added.
Coyne and Fazio also announced during the meeting that the
Teterboro Airport Industry Working Group will meet on a quarterly
basis and will announce after each of these meetings the progress
made as a result of the pledges.
As Aero-News reported, the
Teterboro Airport Industry Working Group represents airport
operators who have agreed to uphold a series of voluntary
restrictions at the Teterboro. Those restrictions include a ban on
Stage II aircraft, and a nighttime curfew between the hours of
11:00 pm and 6:00 am.
Working Group operators also agreed not to operate aircraft
having an operating weight of more than 100,000 pounds at Teterboro
Airport at any time, now or in the future.