FAA to test new routes for planes

Tuesday, April 2, 2002 | 8:42 a.m.

Passenger planes above Las Vegas will soon start flying new routes.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that it will begin taking some departing flights on a northeastern direction over the urban area. The departure route will affect about 30 percent of the 1,500 to 2,000 flights that leave McCarran International Airport daily, said Del Meadows, acting air traffic manager for the control tower.

The test will begin April 8 and last 180 days. The routes are a test "to determine the impacts to aircraft fuel efficiency, air traffic operational efficiency and noise abatement," according the FAA.

Jerry Snyder, an agency spokesman, said the change actually returns some flights to routes it stopped using in October. The post-October routes were designed to take flights well south of the urban area before turning north to points east.

But Snyder said the FAA found that crowding in the post-October routes required some jets to fly over Henderson. He said his agency hasn't received any complaints because of the southern routes, but the change announced this week could help cut aircraft noise in the south part of the valley.

Meadows said the changes instituted in October weren't in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but for long-term goals to improve fuel efficiency and control noise.

"The airspace redesign is a process that's been in work for several years," Meadows said. "The whole intent is to make the most effective use of the airspace. What we're trying to do is fine-tune some of those routes."