Burbank May Consider Legal Action Against Airline
City Councilman Bob Kramer said Friday he has asked city officials to consider taking legal action against Southwest Airlines to recover expenses stemming from an incident last year when one of the airline’s planes careened off a runway at Burbank Airport.
The councilman has asked that the matter be placed on the agenda of the council’s next regular meeting Tuesday.
“We recognize that the airline pays taxes to the city to cover the cost of municipal services,” he said. “But when pilot error causes their plane to land on one of our streets, we feel that they should pay to clean that up.”
Kramer’s request comes on the heels of a letter sent in November by City Atty. Dennis A. Barlow to Southwest Airlines requesting $40,891 to cover costs of providing police, fire, public works and public service department personnel.
Southwest Airlines’ insurer, Associated Aviation Underwriters of New Jersey, has refused to pay the costs, saying in a letter dated Feb. 7 that the airline already pays for public services through the annual taxes paid to the city.
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On March 5, 2000, a Southwest Airlines jet carrying 137 passengers and five crew members careened off a Burbank Airport runway, broke through a barrier and came to a stop on Hollywood Way a few yards from a gas station. Six people were slightly injured.
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