Long Beach residents upset over late-night flight noise

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Longtime residents who live along the flight path of Long Beach Airport are upset about planes roaring over their homes late at night while they're not supposed to.

Flights near the airport are expected during daytime hours, but a curfew is in place for 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

"I like my airport," said Marcela Dinkler of Long Beach. "I like the fact that we have a small little airport, but I think there's rules and I think those rules need to be enforced a little bit stronger."

"It seems like it's increasing a little bit and of course it kind of wakes us up and I'm just living there wondering, isn't there a rule against this?" said Karen McCants of Long Beach.

Airport rules say there should be no landings or takeoffs from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Area residents say they've recently noticed an increase in flights arriving and departing during the evening curfew hours.

According to airport records, the biggest culprit breaking curfew is JetBlue

Records from Sunday night alone show seven curfew violations.

Long Beach City Councilman Daryl Supernaw whose district is along the flight path, has heard the complaints from his constituents.

Supernaw is working on bringing everyone together from the city to JetBlue to figure out a way to dramatically cut back on the late night takeoffs and landings.

"The fines for June 2016 were a total of $30,000," Supernaw said. "That number jumped in June 2017 to $168,900, or a 463 percent increase."

"At that point, hey this is way out of control and we got to take a look at what we can do."

In a statement to Eyewitness News, JetBlue said: "When a flight operates beyond curfew time, it's often due to air traffic control related issues at some of the busiest airports on the East Coast and in Northern California. JetBlue is working with elected officials to mitigate these instances and is a strong supporter of Air Traffic Control reform."

Officials hope to meet with the airlines and work out a plan to address the issue by November, when the busy holiday travel season begins.