Newport Recommends Departure Route to Reduce Noise at JWA

If the Federal Aviation Administration approves a departure route recommended by the Newport Beach City Council to help reduce noise, passengers flying out of John Wayne Airport could experience a new take-off route over the Upper Newport Bay.

At its Tuesday night meeting, the Newport Beach City Council voted unanimously to authorize Mayor Keith Curry to send a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration proposing a zigzag departure plan over the Upper Newport Bay. The proposed route for departing flights would follow the curvature of the Upper Bay to open water, according to a city staff report.

"This is just another groundbreaking initiative by the city of Newport Beach to be a leader in managing the effect of the airport on the local community," Councilwoman Leslie Daigle said at the meeting.

If it is approved the zigzag departure route would be implemented at JWA as part of the FAA's NextGen program, a national modernization plan to use a satellite-based system to manage flights instead of ground-based air traffic control. 

Newport Beach hired aviation consulting firm Naverus for $75,000 in fall 2012 to help analyze and develop the plan regarding departure patterns above the Upper Newport Bay.  

Also at the meeting

Mayor Keith Curry announced 10-year-old entrepreneur Vanis Buckholz was honored by former President George H.W. Bush with a Daily Point of Light award for creating change in the world through his recycling business. Buckholz, a fourth-grade student at Harbor View Elementary School in Corona del Mar, spoke to the City Council in January about his company My ReCycler.