Hollywood Burbank Airport to send joint letter to FAA regarding NextGen
The Federal Aviation Administration will soon receive a letter from the city of Burbank and the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority regarding what some residents perceive as increased noise generated by the Hollywood Burbank Airport.
Authority members voted 8-0 on Tuesday to agree to send a joint letter with the Burbank City Council to Dan Elwell, acting administrator of the FAA, to voice concerns that some Burbank residents have expressed regarding the Next Generation Air Transportation System, known as NextGen.
Commissioner Steve Madison of Pasadena was absent.
Although he wanted to support Burbank’s efforts in letting the FAA know about the concerns residents have had with the agency’s satellite-based radar system, Terry Tornek, authority president, had an issue with one sentence in the document.
The joint letter, which was drafted by Burbank City Atty. Amy Albano, states that NextGen is the reason for the increase in noise around Hollywood Burbank Airport and the changes in flight patterns above the city.
NextGen was created as a way to make flight paths safer and more fuel and time efficient. The radar system was implemented at airports in Southern California this past March.
John Hatanaka, senior deputy executive director for Hollywood Burbank, said members of the Burbank City Council think that NextGen is the main cause of the increased noise.
Burbank resident Audrey Ford, who has been at the forefront of bringing the noise issue to light to council members and airport staff, said the radar system has allowed flights to take off from the airport at a lower elevation. She added that NextGen has allowed takeoffs to occur in quicker succession.
However, Hollywood Burbank staff members have repeatedly said the radar system has not changed procedures at the airport and that various factors — including weather, aircraft passenger and cargo loads and wind — can contribute to lower takeoff elevations.
Airport staff have also said that a recovering economy has played some part in the number of planes arriving at and departing from the airfield. Hollywood Burbank recently ended 2017 with 4,739,466 passengers going through its gates, a 14.4% hike compared to the previous year.
Tornek said that although he felt part of the letter was placing all of the blame on NextGen, he thought the airport authority should show solidarity with city officials and residents.
He added that he and airport staff will continue to look into the cause of the increased noise and said there will be continued dialogue between the airport and residents.
The authority’s operations and development committee held a special meeting on Feb. 1 to talk with residents about their concerns regarding NextGen.
“We’ll get to the bottom of this and try to be sure that we’re being responsive to our neighbors,” Tornek said. “We want to have a successful airport, but we certainly don’t want it to be at the expense of our neighbors.”
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
