Notes
Noise Regulation Reporter Number 155 (April 21, 1980) reports that FAA Chief Counsel Clark H. Onstad informed the Orange County, California Board of Supervisors that its noise abatement policy at John Wayne Airport is ‘unjustly discriminatory’ against new airline entrants. The FAA found that denying entry to Continental Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Pacific Southwest Airlines, and Western Airlines — while granting exclusive rights to incumbent carriers Air California and Hughes Airwest — violated Section 308(a) of the Federal Aviation Act and the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970. The county’s restrictions, including a 40-flight-per-day limit, curfew, and 500-mile perimeter rule, were found to conflict with Airline Deregulation Act automatic market entry provisions and federal preemption under Section 105 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. Presiding officer Dewitte T. Lawson conducted the fact-finding investigation; the Santa Monica Airport Association v. City of Santa Monica (CV-77-2852-IH) curfew precedent is cited.