February 28, 2011
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen today told four congressmen that a proposed ban on nighttime flights at Bob Hope Burbank (BUR) and Van Nuys (VNY) Airports in southern California would hurt local businesses and severely impede interstate air commerce.
“This amendment would establish exactly the type of ‘patchwork quilt’ of local restrictions that the 1990 Airport Noise and Capacity Act (ANCA) was designed to prevent,” said Bolen in a letter to congressmen John Mica (R-7-FL), Nick Rahall (D-3-WV), Thomas Petri (R-6-WI) and Jerry Costello (D-12-IL), all key members of the House Subcommittee on Aviation. “It would undercut the utility of the national air transportation system.”
Congress enacted ANCA in 1990, addressing noise concerns of communities, air carriers, general aviation and airports. The current proposal by three southern California congressmen to impose a nigh curfew on operations at BUR and VNY suggests that both airports should be allowed to circumvent ANCA. Under the original ANCA bill, however, only those restrictions already in effect, or proposed but not adopted before ANCA’s enactment, have been considered permissable.
“This proposal would be a dangerous step down the path toward the highly unsatisfactory situation that existed before passage of ANCA,” Bolen’s letter states. “The restrictions sought at BUR already have been determined to be unnecessary by the agency with jurisdiction over Part 161; and the restrictions sought at VNY have not been subject to expert scrutiny at all.”
Download the Bolen’s letter to the congressmen (85KB, PDF)
For More Information
For additional background information, visit the following resources:
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.