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Keith McCord reporting The director of the Salt Lake International Airport says F-A-A plans to change the airline flight paths into the airport are not needed.
In a report that will be given to the Salt Lake City Council this evening, Tim Campbell says the F-A-A has based its proposal on outdated statistics.
Hoping to ease some of the airline traffic congestion coming into and out of Salt Lake International, the F-A-A came up with the proposal about two years ago. Among other things, the plan calls for changing some of the flight paths, which would route incoming planes over the east bench areas of the Wasatch.
But, Airport Director, Tim Campbell believes the F-A-A should re-evaluate the plan.
Tim Campbell/Airport Director: "WE HAVEN'T THUS FAR BEEN ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY CONVINCE THEM NOT TO PROCEEED, SO THIS IS A FEDERAL ISSUE. AND THEY ARE CERTAINLY WITHIN THEIR RIGHTS TO MOVE FORWARD, BUT WE HAVE SERIOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MERITS OF IT THOUGH."
The F-A-A is looking at all of the major U-S airports in terms of congestion. When studies began a few years ago, the industry was still growing, especially here in Salt Lake. The F-A-A was predicting a 3.75 percent-per-year increase in traffic here and proposed the new flight patterns over the east side of the Wasatch.
Campbell says the F-A-A's estimates are too high.
And he says the 9-1-1 attacks in 2001 really slowed down airline growth. The F-A-A is looking at several options here including leaving things the way they are. Campbell hopes the agency will look at even more options.
Tim Campbell/Airport Director: "THERE ARE A NUMBER OF TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS BOTH IN THE AIRCRAFT AND ON THE GROUND THAT WE THINK WILL IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE SYSTEM. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF ALTERNATIVE FLIGHT TRACKS THAT WE THINK SHOULD BE LOOKED AT."
For now, the F-A-A is examining possible environmental impacts if planes are routed over the east side of the valley. A decision is still several years away.
The F-A-A set a May 15th deadline to receive public comment on the proposal.