Limits on Noisy Older Jets Considered at L.A. Airport

The Los Angeles Airport Commission is considering new procedures that would reduce noise levels around Los Angeles International Airport by restricting the use of older jetliners.

The commission this week ordered the drafting of an ordinance that would require the gradual phase-out of so-called Stage II aircraft at the airport by the year 2000, requiring new carriers to restrict their operations to quieter, so-called Stage III aircraft.

Pending the City Council’s adoption of such an ordinance, the board also ordered a six-month freeze in the levels of Stage II aircraft now operating at the airport.

Commercial jetliners have been grouped into three stages, based on the levels of noise they generate, with Stage I being the noisiest and Stage III the quietest.

The first generation of jetliners--planes like the Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s--were generally classified as Stage I because of the high levels of noise they created. The use of these planes has been banned at most of the nation’s urban airports. They were banned at Los Angeles International in 1985 and none have been built in more than a decade.

The second generation of jetliners--early Boeing 727s, 737s and 747s, DC-9s and later model 707s and DC-8s--fell generally into the quieter, Stage II category. Many of these aircraft have more recently been modified with quieter engines that have reclassified them as Stage IIIs. Manufacturers are no longer building Stage II aircraft.

The quieter Stage III aircraft constitute the latest generation of jetliners--planes like the newer 737s, 747s, 757s and 767s, Lockheed L-1011s and European Airbuses. These jetliners account for 60% of the operations at the Los Angeles airport.

Under the ordinance proposed Thursday, individual carriers at the airport would be required to have at least 25% of their fleets Stage III by Jan. 1, 1991, 50% by Jan. 1, 1994, 75% by Jan. 1, 1996, and 100% by Jan. 1, 2000. Since most carriers are modernizing their fleets anyway, the proposal is not expected to draw heavy opposition from the airlines.

The proposed ordinance would require any new carriers operating at the airport after June 1, 1990, to use Stage III aircraft exclusively.

The board said it was acting because of the lack of any coordinated national policy by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Times staff writer Sam Fulwood III in Washington contributed to this report.