Hollywood Burbank Airport air-service agreement concerns Valley residents affected by aircraft noise
Residents from the south San Fernando Valley expressed concerns this week that an air-service consultant hired by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority will further exacerbate the aircraft noise over their neighborhoods.
The authority on Monday approved a $70,000 agreement with InterVistas Consulting to provide information to airlines operating at Hollywood Burbank Airport to help them retain their current services at the airfield, said Nerissa Sugars, the airport’s manager of air service development.
Hollywood Burbank has been working with InterVistas since the 2017 fiscal year to help with air-service retention and development. Since then, some airlines have offered flights to new destinations.
JetBlue Airways started offering flights to Boston Logan International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2018.
Additionally, Delta Airlines expanded its service to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in July, and American Airlines has been offering flights to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport since April.
Those new offerings have contributed to a significant growth in passenger numbers this year. The airport had 556,491 passengers in August, a 20% increase compared to the same month last year, Sugars said.
The rising passenger count has had some residents from Studio City and the south San Fernando Valley concerned because they have reported a rise in aircraft noise from Hollywood Burbank and Van Nuys airports over the last two years.
That region of Los Angeles has been inundated with airplane traffic from departing flights from the two local airports, primarily Hollywood Burbank.
During that time, the flight paths of airplanes leaving Hollywood Burbank shifted south from the 101 Freeway to over Studio City and Sherman Oaks, according to a study conducted by consulting firm Landrum & Brown last October.
Studio City resident Kimberly Turner, co-founder of a community group called Studio City for Quiet Skies, said she thinks the Burbank airport is focused on increasing the number of flights it handles.
At the authority’s meeting on Sept. 23, its members approved a contract extension with a marketing firm called Anyone Collective to continue helping the airport attract more passengers.
Turner said the agreement approved on Monday will help the airport in that quest.
“[Hollywood] Burbank Airport does not need any more development,” she said during the authority meeting this past Monday. “This is a slap to the face of our communities that are suffering due to your flight paths moved over our communities.”
Turner suggested that the airport either stop its passenger growth or send departing flights over Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena.
