Airport Study Is a Starting Point
A study released last week reveals that a proposed law restricting noisy jets at Van Nuys Airport could claim up to 565 jobs and cost aviation companies at the airfield as much as $190 million within three years. Whether those numbers are accurate is subject to debate. Some airport critics claim they’re cooked, that the city-sponsored study is just another way to put off imposing serious restrictions at the country’s busiest general aviation airport.
A year late, the study does make an easy target for airport critics who support a so-called non-addition rule at Van Nuys. The rule, under consideration by the Los Angeles City Council, would prohibit an increase in the number of older, noisier Stage 2 aircraft based at the airport. As companies moved their jets, they could not be replaced--forcing operators to either upgrade their fleets or move to another airfield.
The study revealed that between 1995 and 1997, 34 of the 51 Stage 2 jets based at Van Nuys left and were replaced by 36 other Stage 2 jets. Had the law been in place, none of those jets could have been replaced. But it’s hard to imagine that aviation businesses would have dried up and blown away. Van Nuys is popular for a very simple reason: Location. It’s within an easy drive of key business hubs--from Warner Center and Century City. Would upgrading jets cost operators money? Undoubtedly. Would some fail? Perhaps. But aviation companies could continue to operate at Van Nuys.
The study does, however, point up the potential costs associated with trying to regulate a valuable economic resource like Van Nuys Airport. Its best purpose may be that it draws together factions that have been at war for more than a decade. For the first time in nearly four years, the Los Angeles Airport Commission agreed to meet later this month in the San Fernando Valley to discuss the study. Both sides should use the opportunity to find common ground that can be used to negotiate a deal that serves both the important economic interests of the airport and the legitimate need neighbors have for a little peace and quiet.
