"FAA, LA Mayor Oppose Burbank Curfew Plan"

Monday, June 23, 2008

FAA, LA Mayor Oppose Burbank Curfew Plan
By Kerry Lynch 
Aviation Week & Space Technology

 
The Federal Aviation Administration and Los Angeles officials joined a
number of industry leaders expressing opposition to a proposal to impose a
mandatory nighttime curfew at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif. (BUR). The
Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority has undertaken a Part 161 study
to impose a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6:59 a.m. for all operations except in
cases of medical, emergency or military flights. The curfew would provide a
one-hour grace period after 10 p.m. for mechanical or weather delays.

The airport authority endorsed the curfew as the best option to meet its
goal to "eliminate or significantly reduce nighttime noise" at BUR. The
proposal also won the backing of Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Howard
Berman (D-Calif.), who said in a joint letter that a curfew "would impact a
relatively small number of diverted flights (mostly cargo and general
aviation) while delivering significant reductions in both the projected
noise impact contour at the airport and costs associated with sound
mitigation." The Airports Council International-North America submitted
comments in support, as did some of the local homeowners associations and
the Burbank Chamber of Commerce, which said the majority of its board
members voted in favor of the curfew.

But in its comments on the Part 161 study, FAA expressed concerns that the
proposal failed to meet the statutory requirements necessary for restricting
Stage 3 aircraft. FAA, which stressed that its comments did not represent a
final decision on the matter, questioned whether the restriction was
reasonable, citing insufficient evidence of a projected noise problem. "BUR
has not made a convincing argument of unacceptable growth of a nighttime
noise problem that cannot and should not be cost-effectively managed with a
continuation of existing measures."

The forecast increase in operations involves scheduling that would fall
within the time frame of the existing voluntary curfew, FAA said, noting
that the voluntary measures are well established at the airport.

But even if the airport authority accurately projected an increase in noise,
FAA said, then the airport authority underestimated the ramifications of
diverting the traffic to nearby airports under a mandatory curfew. "BUR,
without sufficient rationale, has arbitrarily established a goal to
eliminate nighttime aircraft noise," FAA said.

"If more aircraft are crammed into the 7 a.m. time frame, it has significant
impact" for the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center airspace, and
particularly for a number of large hub destinations such as Dallas, Atlanta,
Chicago and Salt Lake City and other busy destinations such as Honolulu, Las
Vegas, Seattle and San Francisco, the agency said.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pushed for a more regional solution,
noting that Van Nuys (VNY) and Los Angeles International (LAX) airports are
working on their own Part 161 study to address noise issues - but neither
are pursuing an overnight curfew.

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