Newport Beach begins lobbying for JWA deal
Paul Clinton
JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT -- With their deal to extend flight limits at the
airport now sealed locally, Newport Beach and county representatives have
already begun stating their case in Washington, D.C.
Today, Orange County attorney Michael Gatzke plans to meet with the
Air Transport Assn., a powerful airline trade group that has opposed the
John Wayne Airport settlement agreement extension.
On Wednesday, John Wayne Airport Director Alan Murphy began
discussions with staff members of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Newport Beach representatives were expected to attend both of the
those meetings, officials said.
City leaders have said they are confident they can smooth the ruffled
feathers of airlines that oppose the restrictions.
“The city will be involved in some of those meetings,†Councilwoman
Norma Glover said. “I believe we will work through the issues with the
airlines.â€
Many of the airport’s restrictions were the result of the 1985
settlement agreement, an outgrowth of city lawsuits to limit flights out
of the airport and jet noise in Newport-Mesa neighborhoods.
One day after the historic extension was jointly approved by the
Newport Beach City Council and Orange County Board of Supervisors, the
airlines reiterated their opposition to it.
Roger Cohen, a spokesman with the trade group, said the deal was an
attempt to “unilaterally change the ground rules.â€
Changes to federal aviation law in the early 1990s prohibit airports
from imposing their own limits.
The 1985 settlement was set to expire at the end of 2005. City and
county leaders, in the extension approved Tuesday, gave airlines more
flights three years before the previous agreement would expire. Carriers
can now add the flights Jan. 1.
“There are a lot of carriers that want to serve Orange County,†Cohen
said. “You’ve got 14 kids at a birthday party, another 30 outside and a
cake that feeds three.â€
City officials disputed Cohen’s claim that the deal is out of tune
with federal law.
“That’s a position that is not consistent with the legal advice of the
specialists that the city has hired,†Councilman Dennis O’Neil said.
“That’s a wrong assumption.â€
Now that the four original co-signers of the 1985 deal have agreed to
an extension -- the city, county, Airport Working Group and Stop
Polluting Our Newport -- the deal must be blessed by a federal judge.
A judge from the U.S. District Court, Central District of California,
must sign off on the extension. Judge Terry J. Hatter, from that court,
approved the previous deal and several amendments in subsequent years.
New flight limits include a cap of 85 on the noisiest flights each
day, 18 flight bridges, 9.8 million annual passengers and four cargo
flights. Each cap was raised from 73, 14, 8.4 million and two,
respectively.
It still isn’t clear how the increased flight capacity would be
allocated, an airport spokeswoman said. Airport managers work under the
constraints of an “access plan†that was developed in 1985. That document
maps out the limits and details how they are distributed to the carriers.
A new plan will be developed over the next year, airport spokeswoman
Ann McCarley said.
“It’s unknown at this point exactly how that will play out,†McCarley
said.
The curfew, imposed in the late 1960s, could not be altered by county
supervisors until January 2021.
Under the curfew, departures are allowed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday
through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Arrivals are allowed from
7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday.
* Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and
politics. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7
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