Airport Set to Hasten Noisy Jets’ Departure

Burbank Airport authorities tentatively agreed Wednesday to ban noisy jetliners from using the field by April, 1987, almost two years earlier than required by the airport’s present noise abatement rules.

The action represents a compromise between airlines and the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. In December, the agency considered forcing air carriers to convert their fleets to federally certified Stage 3 aircraft--the quietest commercial jetliners available--by January, 1986.

The authority’s existing noise rules, adopted in 1982, require the airlines to stop using the noisier jets by January, 1989.

“Several airliners said they had scheduled their acquisition of new airplanes based on the 1989 date and that 1986 was just too big an adjustment,” said Robert W. Garcin, airport authority president. “We feel that 1987 is an acceptable compromise . . . “

70% of Fleet Converted

Airport commissioners agreed to the compromise, Garcin said, because airlines using the airport already have converted 70% of their fleets to the quieter aircraft, one of the highest percentages of any airport in the country.

He said noise rules now require that only 25% of the carriers be of the Stage 3 type at the beginning of this year.

As of June 20, when summer schedule changes become effective, only 19 of the 91 aircraft taking off from the airport daily will be the noisier type of jetliner, Garcin said.

The proposed amendment to the airport’s noise abatement rules also would allow the use of the Boeing 737-200, an aircraft equipped with a “mixer,” or noise reduction device, until the 1987 deadline.

Garcin said the airport’s experience with the mixer in the last half of 1984 indicates that, in most cases, it is as quiet on takeoff as the Stage 3 aircraft.

“We came to the same conclusion Orange County did in allowing the mixer to fly into John Wayne Airport, except we will only allow it for an interim period until a 100% Stage 3 fleet is required,” Garcin said.

Ruling Prompted Restrictions

Airport officials said the new restrictions on jet noise were proposed because a federal court judge ruled last June that the airport cannot discriminate by prohibiting some airlines from using the noisier aircraft while allowing others to continue to do so.

Noise abatement rules adopted in 1982 gave airlines already operating out of Burbank until Jan. 1, 1989, to phase out noisy jetliners but limited all new flights to Stage 3-type aircraft.

Bylaws require the airport authority to take public comment on proposed noise rule changes for 30 days before final adoption.