Airlines Refuse to Agree to Ironclad Curfew Policy

Most airlines serving the Burbank airport have refused to accept an ironclad curfew, apparently torpedoing hopes for a swift end to the years of feuding with neighbors over airport noise.

The rejection leaves airport officials pondering whether to embark on the lengthy bureaucratic process with the federal government needed to impose a mandatory curfew, the goal of noise protesters spearheaded by the Burbank city government.

The Air Transport Assn., which represents five of the airport’s six airlines, refused Thursday to accept the airport management’s suggestion that they agree to abide by the airport’s voluntary 10 p.m.-to-7-a.m. curfew.

All but a handful of flights now operate within those hours, but the few early takeoffs are particularly upsetting to neighbors.

Neil Bennett, the association’s western regional director, said the group’s members--which include Alaska, American, America West, United and Southwest airlines--refused because the curfew would affect their ability to respond to future customer demand.

The airport’s governing body, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, has been locked in legal and political battles for years with the Burbank and Los Angeles city governments, as well as with neighborhood residents groups, over aircraft noise.