Air Traffic Takes Jump at Burbank

Traffic at Burbank Airport has increased substantially this year, even before a dramatic 250% increase in flights by Alaska Airlines scheduled to begin last Thursday.

In the first six months of the year, the number of passengers using the airport increased by more than 9%, and operations--takeoffs and landings--by almost 8%, according to statistics kept by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

The airport was used by 1.55 million passengers in the first six months of this year, a 9.1% increase from 1.42 million passengers in the same period last year.

Shipments Up

In the first six months of this year, the airport logged 26,958 operations, a 7.8% increase from the 24,998 registered in the same period last year.

Air cargo shipments increased 64%, from 8.3 million pounds in the first six months of 1986 to 13.7 million pounds in the same period this year.

Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines will increase its flights to and from Burbank Airport to 240 per week, compared with a current total of 92, a company spokesman said. Most flights will be to Oakland or San Francisco.

Alaska Airlines is challenging for a large part of the lucrative traffic between the Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area, the busiest air corridor in the world. Airlines were carrying 8.7 million passengers a year between the two metropolitan areas last year.

Burbank Airport officials estimated the additional flights will swell the area around the airport in which average noise levels exceed state standards from 363 acres to almost 437 acres.

No More Take-Offs

In a related action, a Los Angeles city councilman announced that noise protesters will try to use a hearing on renewal of the airport’s state operating license to pressure airport administrators to dissuade airline pilots from taking off over the East San Fernando Valley.

Councilman Joel Wachs introduced a motion in the council instructing the city attorney to intervene in the hearing, scheduled to begin Feb. 8.

The motion instructed the city attorney “to insist” that the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority be forbidden to build a planned new terminal until it agrees to impose a “share-the-noise” plan.