Flights Would Be Sent To Other Area Airports

It's not often we hear of NIMBYs and airport management as allies... but the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, which operates Bob Hope Airport (BUR), is asking the FAA to impose a 10 pm-to-7 am curfew on all but the absolute quietest, Stage-IV jets. If enacted, the curfew would force those operators to use other airports in the region at night.

The Los Angeles Times reports the airport has been criticized for a sort of noise and pollution "shell game," which would simply displace its nighttime flights to Van Nuys, LAX, Ontario, Long Beach and Whiteman Airports.

But the authority's request to the FAA cites an eight-year, $6 million study which finds only about 35 operations per night would be affected -- largely private aviation and corporate flights.

Among that study's more controversial points is its conclusion that through 2015, the restrictions would generate about $67 million in benefits for the public living near Bob Hope, and $48 million in costs to airlines, passengers, cargo carriers and general aviation.

Critics say those benefits to residents of Burbank, Glendale and Los Angeles, including higher home valuations, would be offset by additional costs for residents near alternate airports.

The FAA will have 180 days in which to consider the request.

Dan Feger, executive director of the airport authority, calls his airport's request to the FAA historic. "No airport has asked for a federal restriction like this. We believe that hundreds of thousands of residents can obtain noise relief while keeping the airport viable."

FMI: www.burbankairport.com, www.lawa.org