U.S. Discloses Landmark Policy to Curb Airport Noise : Aviation: Airlines must eliminate loudest planes by the year 2000, but some airports will find it difficult to adopt controls stricter than federal rules.

WASHINGTON —  Federal aviation officials unveiled a landmark noise policy Tuesday that is intended to reduce the roar of jet engines dramatically by the end of the decade for 2.7 million people who live near the nation’s airports.

But the new rules also will make it much more difficult--some critics say virtually impossible--for local airports, including Los Angeles International, to impose noise controls more stringent than those planned by the federal government.

“This is a very complicated issue,” said Secretary of Transportation Samuel K. Skinner, noting that the new federal policy seeks to strike a balance between the rights of those who live near airports and the rights of air carriers and their passengers.

In the end, Skinner said at a news conference, the courts are likely to decide how far individual airports can go in imposing noise regulations that supersede the new federal rules.

The new airport noise policy, drafted at the direction of Congress, requires all airlines to eliminate the oldest, noisiest airplanes in their fleets by the year 2000. The rules apply to domestic carriers as well as to foreign-owned planes that use U.S. air terminals.

The noise policy allows more than 100 airports that already have imposed their own noise restrictions to keep them in place. But any airports that attempt to tighten existing policies will face tough new hurdles, including requirements for rigorous economic impact analyses that some airport officials believe will be all but impossible to satisfy.

That part of the policy was designed in part to respond to air carrier complaints that the proliferation of local noise control policies has hurt air commerce and made it difficult for them to operate efficiently.

Earlier this year, officials at LAX put on hold plans to impose a faster phase-out of noisier aircraft after the Federal Aviation Administration threatened to cut off all federal aid if they pressed forward, said Clifton A. Moore, executive director of the Los Angeles Department of Airports. Moore said negotiations over the issue are continuing.

In Orange County, an official at John Wayne Airport, already one of the quietest airports in the country, expressed concern that some provisions of the new federal policy could threaten the airport’s strict noise controls.

At Burbank Airport, however, officials said they expect the policy to have little effect.

Skinner estimated that the new noise policy will cost airlines between $880 million and $4.5 billion through the end of the decade, depending on whether they replace entire aircraft or upgrade engines to reduce noise. Those costs almost certainly will be passed along to ticket-buyers, he said.

“We are asking the American traveling consumer to pay . . . to provide a quiet environment,” Skinner said.

The new rule will take out of service about 2,270 “Stage II” aircraft, which account for 55% of the existing domestic fleet. Among the noisier planes are Boeing 707s, 727s, some 737s, DC-8s and DC-9s. Quieter “Stage III” aircraft, such as Boeing 757s and 767s, currently make up about 45% of the U.S. fleet.

“These rules will result in quieter airports and a smoothly functioning air transportation system, both of which are vital to the nation’s well-being,” FAA Administrator James B. Busey said.

The noise policy will decrease the number of people living near airports who are subjected to excessive jet noise from 2.7 million this year to an estimated 400,000 in the year 2000, Skinner said.

The new rule permits airlines to comply in one of two ways. They can retire Stage II planes in two-year increments of 25% (a reduction of 25% by the end of 1994, 50% by 1996, 75% by 1998 and 100% by 2000). Or they can add newer, quieter planes to gradually increase the percentage of Stage III planes (55% by the end of 1994, 65% by 1996, 75% by 1998 and 100% by 2000).

At any stage, the FAA is allowed to grant waivers to air carriers that have not complied, for reasons that may include financial troubles.

Despite Skinner’s assertion that the new rules represent an environmental breakthrough, airport authorities who want even more stringent regulations are likely to be blocked by the new federal plan.

The rule announced by Skinner requires airports seeking tighter restrictions on Stage II aircraft to complete a detailed analysis of the economic impact of the restrictions on air carriers, and to explore all other possible alternatives. Airports seeking to expand the restrictions on the quieter Stage III aircraft must seek the formal approval of the FAA.

The Los Angeles Department of Airports last June had asked the City Council to enact an ordinance that would require fleets of 75% Stage III aircraft by Jan. 1, 1996, three years earlier than called for in the new federal plan. But airport authorities called off the vote after the FAA objected, Moore said.

Los Angeles airport officials contend that their plan is covered by the “grandfather” clause in the new federal noise regulations, because airport commissioners had taken action to move forward with their new restrictions before last October, when Congress passed legislation requiring the new noise policy. But Moore said the FAA disagrees with that interpretation.

The new federal policy also could mean trouble for officials of John Wayne Airport, who are fighting to preserve the strict local noise controls that permitted the airport’s massive expansion in the late 1980s.

Because John Wayne already excludes all but the newest and quietest of aircraft, any change in its noise rules would bring special problems--the entire package of regulations would have to be turned over to the FAA for evaluation.

And John Wayne officials fear they may have to change their regulations later this year to accommodate an anticipated ruling by the FAA in a separate, but related matter. The airport currently requires some planes to cut back their power at 500 feet to reduce noise. If the FAA, as anticipated, bans power cutbacks below 800 feet, John Wayne would have to amend its noise plan to permit the louder takeoffs. Once the restrictions were amended, county officials fear the FAA would move in to take a hard look at the airport’s entire noise policy.

Flying The Muffled Skies

Although the number of airline passengers is expected to grow to 750 million annually in the United States by the year 2,000, fewer than 1 million people on the ground will be exposed to intense jet aircraft noise under federal rules proposed Tuesday. But some critics fear the rules don’t go far enough. Population exposed to average 65 decibels daily Persons flying annually Source: Department of Transportation