Officials think buyers may make noise complaints Michael Rose • Statesman Journal

Prompted by concerns that noise complaints from neighbors could threaten the airport, the Salem Airport Advisory Commission has called for a review of the city’s land-use and zoning policies.
he airport commission sent a letter to the Salem Planning Commission asking it to consider how new housing projects might lead to conflicts with airport operations. The former Fairview Training Center site and land near Kuebler Boulevard are of “particular concern,” the letter states.

The airport commission wants the city to analyze land-use regulations for areas under airport traffic patterns. Moreover, it wants to ensure that prospective home buyers understand the airport was there first.

“We just think it’s wise that anybody purchasing property realize they are under the final approach path to the airport,” said Tim Hay, the chairman of the Salem Airport Advisory Commission.
Among airport commission’s list of recommendations: requiring that home buyers at the Pringle Creek Community — an acclaimed sustainable development under construction on 32 acres of the Fairview site — be made aware of their property’s proximity to the airport. The commission suggests that buyers of Pringle Creek homes sign a disclosure document that acknowledges the airport’s proximity.

Don Myers, who is president of the company building Pringle Creek, said the commission’s letter “really doesn’t have any merit.”

“We get absolutely no airplane traffic over Pringle Creek,” Myers said.

Housing subdivisions clustered near airports sometimes have led to organized efforts by neighbors to close the facilities. The airport advisory commission said about 60 U.S. airports per year are closed because of “residential encroachment.”

Dan Dorn, the chairman of the Salem Planning Commission, said he supports creating a strategy to strike a balance between the airport’s needs and neighborhood livability.

“I think it’s probably timely for the planning commission to take a look at how those areas in the flight path are zoned and what the comp plans say about them,” Dorn said. The planning commission intends to draft a letter to Salem City Council, asking it to address the issues raised by the airport advisory commission, he said.

mrose@StatesmanJournal.com or (503)399-6657.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANY&NJ) on Tuesday filed a motion with the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C., circuit requesting to join a suit that seeks to invalidate an FAA plan to auction flight slots at New York metropolitan airports.

The Air Transport Association filed the original suit in the same court.

The move came after FAA on Tuesday announced that it had initiated a notice of investigation to determine whether the PANY&NJ will violate federal regulations if it bars airlines from using takeoff and landing slots at Kennedy International, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports if the slots are acquired by auction.

FAA said that, under law, airports receiving federal grants are required to provide airlines with reasonable and nondiscriminatory access to their facilities. As part of its investigation, FAA said it will evaluate whether the port authority’s Aug. 4 proposal is unlawfully interfering with the airlines’ ability to access takeoff and landing slots at the airports by discouraging bidders from participating in slot auctions.

“If the proposal by the port authority is in fact discouraging open access to the airports, the port authority may no longer be eligible for FAA grants, or payments under existing grants, until the matter is resolved,” FAA said. The agency said it also could issue an immediate cease and desist order requiring the port authority to grant access to the airports.

The PANY&NJ explained that its court action said that the proposed FAA slot auction would result in higher costs for airlines, increased ticket prices for airline passengers and fewer flights to small communities.

Earlier this month, the port authority issued a Notice of Proposed Action that would bar flight activity at the New York metropolitan airports for aircraft operating under auction-acquired slots. The proposal also would prohibit those aircraft from any other use of the airports, such as the lease of gate space in terminals or parking positions on the airfield, except for emergencies.

Troubled Italian airline Alitalia has applied for bankruptcy protection as it tries to agree a deal to ensure its long-term survival.

The carrier has sought court protection from its creditors, effectively declaring itself insolvent.

An administrator will be appointed to handle the process, with flights continuing while the firm plans a radical overhaul of its operations. Losing 2m euros (£1.6m) a day, Alitalia has survived on a 300m-euro state loan. Plans are being drawn up to split the carrier into two and to sell a stake in a new entity to a foreign airline.

Split in two

Guaranteeing the airline’s future will depend on securing fresh investment and persuading its unions to accept large job cuts.

Both Air France KLM and Lufthansa have expressed interest in investing in any new entity which emerges from the current business.  Earlier on Friday, Corrado Passera, head of the airline’s financial advisers Intesa Sanpaolo, confirmed that Alitalia’s board was drawing up a request to seek bankruptcy protection.

The move will give the firm breathing space to reach agreement on how the business can proceed.

The government adopted new measures on Thursday aimed at speeding up bankruptcy proceedings, widely interpreted as a signal that Alitalia was set for such a course of action.

Future plans for the carrier would see it divided in half, with its loss-making operations remaining under bankruptcy protection and potentially being liquidated.

Profitable short-haul routes would be separated into a new business, controlled by a consortium of Italian investors including budget airline Air One which would effectively be merged with Alitalia.

Italian media have speculated that the new firm will employ 7,000 fewer staff than Alitalia’s current 19,000 strong workforce and operate flights to about 50 fewer destinations.

Italian ownership

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has made Alitalia’s continued ownership by Italian interests a precondition of any rescue deal. However, experts have said the airline - of which the government owns 49% - can only survive in the future as part of some European alliance.

Previous attempts to sell the business to a foreign airline have foundered over union concerns about job losses and unease over the severity of the airline’s financial problems.

The airline’s perilous position was put into perspective by Roberto Colaninno, appointed to take charge of the new entity that emerges from the restructuring.

“No one can buy Alitalia in the state it’s in,” he told La Repubblica newspaper.

“With all respect, I am not Merlin the magician. The business is toast. It doesn’t exist any more. There’s nothing left.”

Alitalia has been crippled in recent years by strategic indecision, poor industrial relations and soaring fuel costs.

Its shares were suspended earlier this summer while the firm has delayed the release of its 2007 accounts.