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.

FMI: www.nata.aero