Huntington Beach hopes JetBlue’s plan to cut flights at Long Beach Airport will bring relief from noise

JetBlue’s announcement last week that it plans to decrease its flights at Long Beach Airport in September has Huntington Beach officials hoping for some relief for residents who say jet noise has damaged their quality of life.

“I don’t know if it’ll make a lot of difference — maybe a different player like Southwest Airlines may want to acquire those flight slots. But everyone has been hopeful,” said Councilman Patrick Brenden, who serves on the Air Traffic Noise Working Group, a city task force created in January to tackle the issue.

On April 25, JetBlue announced plans to “refine” its service in Long Beach to “better meet the needs of the market” while launching service in three cities, including Ontario, and increasing service in Burbank. The airline will reduce its daily flights at Long Beach from 35 to 23 — in line with the 2016 level — though it also said it would add service between Long Beach and Steamboat Springs, Colo., and Bozeman, Mont.

The airline’s decision to scale back its Long Beach flights stems from the City Council’s decision last year to kill a proposal to build a federal inspection facility at the airport. Such a facility is necessary for an airport to welcome international travelers.

“Revising our schedule allows us to offer customers new destinations, capitalize on our leadership position in transcontinental flying and advance our margin commitments in Long Beach, where certain flying constraints have created challenges,” Marty St. George, executive vice president for commercial and planning, said in the airline’s announcement.

Huntington Beach residents have increasingly complained about airline noise in the past year, since the Federal Aviation Administration implemented flight path alterations as part of its Southern California Metroplex project covering the region’s airports, including Long Beach and Orange County’s John Wayne Airport. The agency said the changes would shore up inefficiencies, save fuel and reduce carbon emissions and flight delays.

Residents in other cities also are unhappy with the new takeoff and landing patterns. Newport Beach and Laguna Beach sued the FAA over the system in 2016, saying the project’s environmental review, which determined there would be no significant effects, was inadequate.

Huntington Beach’s task force has held meetings with residents and city officials to discuss potential solutions to air traffic noise. It also is tasked with establishing a working relationship with federal aviation and local airport officials and assessing opportunities for lawsuits.

Mayor Mike Posey asked county and federal representatives in April to address aviation noise related to the FAA’s regional air traffic system, describing Huntington as an “epicenter” for “heavily concentrated new landing and flyover patterns.”

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor has said that more than two dozen air routes have historically passed over Huntington Beach.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher — a Costa Mesa Republican whose 48th Congressional District includes Huntington Beach and parts of Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach — joined the fray last month, asking JetBlue to retrofit some of its planes to help minimize noise.

In an April 10 letter to JetBlue’s president and chief executive, Robin Hayes, Rohrabacher urged the airline to modify its Airbus A320 planes with vortex generators, known as air deflectors, and have them fly at the highest altitudes possible when approaching Long Beach Airport to alleviate their “screeching noise.”

JetBlue spokesman Philip Stewart said last month that the airline was reviewing the letter. He could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

Rohrabacher also proposed four amendments to the FAA’s annual reauthorization bill that he said would ease aircraft noise in Orange County. The amendments failed on a 375-37 vote by the House of Representatives last week.

Brenden said the Huntington Beach group was pleased to hear that other amendments calling on the federal government to take steps to reduce the noise and health effects of commercial air traffic passed the House.

“I think we have hope there is some legislative action coming with the reauthorization bill that could offer some relief,” Brenden said. He added that he plans to visit Washington this month to try to speak with legislators about the issue before the Senate votes on the reauthorization bill.

A town hall meeting is slated for 6 p.m. June 13 at the Senior Center in Huntington’s Central Park, where community members can learn more about the group’s efforts.

Brenden said he believes the group has succeeded in having “a seat at the table” for potential remedies.

“Have we solved the problem? Not at all,” he said. “We have raised awareness to issues. We’re taking action vs. being silent, like we have in the past.”

Priscella.Vega@latimes.com

Twitter: @vegapriscella