Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Airport Returns $12 Million to the FAA
By Caitlin Liu
The Los Angeles (CA) Times
Commissioners of Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport voted Monday to give $12 million back to the Federal Aviation Administration because they do not anticipate building a new terminal any time soon. Their unanimous decision came in response to demands by the federal agency for the airport to return funding it received nearly a decade ago toward the purchase of land for a new terminal.
The project, which was tied up in litigation for years, encountered heated opposition from residents who feared that larger facilities would permit more flights and lead to more aircraft noise.
Last year, the FAA’s top administrator ordered the airport to repay the federal grants so the money could be used for improvements at other airports.
“We recognize it’s our obligation to repay that money to the FAA, so that’s what we did,” said Charles Lombardo, president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.
The money, which was wired to the FAA on Monday, came out of the airport’s reserves of about $85 million, Lombardo said.
