FAA not impressed with BUR's Part 161 study

In a letter to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority dated May 18 (but released only last month), the FAA concluded that the authority’s proposed curfew on all aircraft at Bob Hope Airport (BUR) in Burbank, Calif., “would not be consistent with the statutory requirements that a restriction be reasonable, nonarbitrary and nondiscriminatory. Also, it appears…that the cost/benefit analysis would not support the proposed restriction.”

Over the past several years, the airport authority has been preparing an FAR Part 161 noise study. The primary aim of the authority’s study has been to institute a mandatory curfew from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. on all operations. NBAA reports that it and other user groups have vigorously opposed such a mandatory curfew. Since the airport authority needs FAA approval to impose the curfew, these preliminary agency assessments indicate that chances for implementing the overnight restrictions are not good.