JetBlue breathes a sigh of relief today, as the Press-Telegram‘s Paul Eakins tells us that an Orange County judge today approved an Environmental Impact Report that could clear the way for the Long Beach Airport to update and expand their facilities. The judge shot down the lawsuit brought against the airport by the Long Beach Parent-Teacher Association. Cue Eakins:
The PTA alleged in its lawsuit that an environmental impact report that had examined the effects of expanding the airport terminal and building a parking garage there didn’t take into account the potential impact of additional flights that might result from the expansion.
Writing for the three-justice appeals court, Justice William Rylaarsdam says in the ruling that it isn’t the airport’s size, but Long Beach’s strict noise ordinance, that restricts the number of flights at the airport.
So the airport is now free to begin expansions of parking lots and other facilities, which they have been attempting to do since about 2001. Litigation slowed them down, along with hard financial times, and it all came to an ugly head when JetBlue threatened to leave. Since the airline occupies more than half of the airport’s spaces, it would have been a huge void to fill. But JetBlue’s main beef was that facilities had not been upgraded as was promised, and today’s ruling is the first step in clearing that hurdle.
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor