Use of Van Nuys Airport Lessens, Official Reports

Airplane traffic at Van Nuys Airport, which for years has been the third busiest airport in the United States in terms of takeoffs and landings, is continuing to decrease after reaching a 20-year low in 1985, the general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Airports said Wednesday.

Traffic at the airport has decreased in three of the last four years and has been on a downward trend for a decade, primarily because of a slump in the private aviation business.

General Manager Clifton A. Moore, speaking to a meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners at Van Nuys Airport, pointed out that anti-noise groups and homeowner organizations critical of the airport have repeatedly complained that airport operations have increased greatly in recent years and have accused airport administrators of ignoring or encouraging the increase.

May Have Slipped From 3rd Place

“Obviously, that is not occurring,” Moore said.

Although far more persons pass through commercial airports, such as O’Hare in Chicago and Los Angeles International, the Van Nuys Airport has long been among the busiest airfields in terms of operations--takeoffs and landings.

Airport spokesman Tom Winfrey said figures from other airports were not available, but that the decline “probably means we’re not the third busiest anymore.”

Commercial flights are banned at Van Nuys by the airport commission. Most traffic is “general aviation,” flights for pleasure or business by those who own, rent or charter business jets or small propeller planes. Military flights by the 16 California Air National Guard cargo planes stationed there account for less than 1% of the total.

Operations, which hit an all-time high of 618,694 in 1976, dropped in five of the past 10 years, according to Moore’s report. Total operations declined 12% since 1981, to 492,382 last year, the fewest since the 439,563 reported in 1965.

During the first six months of this year, Van Nuys logged 229,501 takeoffs and landings, down 7.4% from the same period last year, Moore said.

At that rate, operations for the year would number about 459,000.

The number of “air taxi” charter flights--a particular target of noise protesters, because many of them are flown by multi-engine jets--hit a high of 857 in 1962 and declined to 257 last year, the department’s report said.

General aviation sources said the industry has been in decline since it was hit by steeply rising fuel prices in the 1970s. By the time oil prices eased, the depressed economy of the late 1970s and early 1980s held down business flying, they said, and, in recent years, the cost of product liability insurance has severely hurt the industry.