San Diego County Regional Airport Authority (Airport Authority) announced the winners of the Fly Quiet Awards, which recognizes airlines for their efforts to reduce noise during arrivals and departures at San Diego International Airport (SAN).
The Airport Authority, in collaboration with the Airport Noise Advisory Committee (ANAC), introduced the Fly Quiet Program in 2017 to encourage airlines to work collaboratively with the airport and the community to operate as quietly as possible in the San Diego area.
Achieving the Fly Quiet Award recognizes that airlines have made an effort to balance their operational needs with those of the community. The Fly Quiet Program uses a scoring system based on specific, scientific metrics that measure how quietly they operate, such as the types of aircraft they use, how loud those aircraft are, and their adherence to SAN’s curfew which prohibits departures between 11:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.
Four airlines are being celebrated for their efforts to reduce the noise impact in 2019. The airline winners include:
United Airlines – Large Domestic Carrier category
United Airlines achieved the Fly Quiet Award by having only one penalized curfew violation throughout 2019. In addition, they cancelled 14 departures that would have resulted in a violation of the curfew.
Allegiant Air – Small Domestic Carrier
Allegiant Air achieved the Fly Quiet Award by transitioning their fleet to a quieter Airbus A319 aircraft.
Japan Airlines – International Carrier
Japan Airlines achieved the Fly Quiet Award by their predominant use of the Boeing 787, a new generation of aircraft that features several noise reduction features. Additionally, Japan Airlines has never had a curfew violation in the seven years of operation at SAN.
American Airlines – Most Improved Carrier
American Airlines achieved the Fly Quiet Award by improving their 2019 score by 17 percent over 2018. SAN staff worked closely with American Airlines to develop a strategy that brought the curfew violation decision making process to a local level. The decision to keep it local reduced penalized violations in 2019 by nearly 70 percent.
“On behalf of the Airport Authority and Board of Directors, I thank the Fly Quiet Award winners for their ongoing commitment to reduce the noise in our community,” said Kim Becker, President and CEO of the Airport Authority. “We continue to work with all airlines at SAN encouraging them to fly quieter aircraft and strictly adhere to the curfew.”
For more information about SAN’s Fly Quiet Program and to learn about other ways in which SAN is working with airlines and the community to reduce noise, please visit san.org/airport-noise.
