NEWPORT BEACH : Law Firms Enter Cargo Flight Fight

The City Council has agreed to spend $10,000 to retain two law firms that specialize in airport issues to represent the city in its efforts to prevent cargo flights out of John Wayne Airport.

Two air freight carriers, United Parcel Service and Federal Express, have asked Orange County to let them run one flight each per day from JWA to their sorting centers.

The city will pay $5,000 each to the firm of Stansfield and Cutler and to the law offices of McDermott, Will and Emery to evaluate a county environmental impact report on the effects of allowing the cargo flights and recommend a course of action.

City officials fear that allowing the cargo flights would open the door to legal action that would gut a hard-won 1985 settlement agreement in a lawsuit over noise.

Under that agreement and a 1990 county Access Plan, no more than 73 noise-regulated aircraft may depart from the airport each day. All of those are allotted to passenger carriers, in part because of a provision in the plan giving preference to aircraft with 75 or more seats.

The county proposed the alternative of adding two noise-controlled flights for cargo carriers and routing them through El Toro Marine Corps Air Station if the FAA would allow it. However, the county later rejected that option because federal regulations prohibit commercial use of military bases.

Newport Beach City Atty. Robert Burnham said he believes that only applies to passenger carriers, not freighters. He also said it would probably be the best alternative for Newport Beach.

If the county approves the cargo operations at John Wayne, Newport Beach officials fear that two of the 73 flight slots will be switched to cargo use. That could prompt passenger airlines to sue to get their flights back, officials fear.