Airline scraps abatement
Fuel costs cited as reason for change
BY PETER A. SUTTERS JR. INDEPENDENT WRITER
Increasing fuel prices have hit Nantucketers hard in the wallet over the past week.

Now, it's on to the ears.

Island Airlines informed airport officials last week they will no longer abide by the voluntary noise abatement program after 8 a.m.

From the first flight of the day, until 8 a.m., the airline's Cessna 402s will still fly around the island, but after that, they will take the most direct route available.

"What we have done is notified the airport and the airport commission that we are curtailing certain aspects of the voluntary noise abatement program to get a handle on operating cost of fuel and aircraft parts," said Scott LaForge, president of the airline. "It's one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make in the last decade."

Cape Air/Nantucket Airlines still plans to fly by the noise abatement rules.

"I can say unequivocally that Cape Air will follow the noise abatement rules at all times of day, whenever possible," said Cape Air director of communications Michelle Haynes. "I just worry that people are going to hear airplane noise and not be able to tell the difference between a blue (Cape Air) tail and a red (Island Airline) tail."

LaForge said taking a shorter route during the day shaves precious minutes off each flight and at the end of the day, those minutes add up to an additional round trip flight from Hyannis and back.

"We think it could be a savings of $20,000 a month," said LaForge. "It's one to two minutes a leg, 18 to 20 legs a day adds up to 30 to 45 minutes a day."

LaForge also said the less time the planes are in the air, the longer parts will last, adding to the savings the airline will see over the long run.

"This is also not something we plan to do forever," said LaForge. "We want to try it for a few months and see what kind of savings we are having. We know that the yearround Nantucket resident is the bread and butter of our business, so we don't want to get people upset, but we have to try and keep prices down at the same time."

Both airlines have had ticket increases over the past few months in the form of fuel surcharges, and LaForge sees this as one way to offset those costs.

LaForge emphasized the "green" aspect of taking the shorter route to the airport, saying there needed to be a better balance between concerns for noise pollution and air pollution.

The airport began the voluntary noise abatement program as a way to cope with the increase in the amount of complaints it was receiving about buzzing aircraft. Late last year, it began rewarding the airlines with rebates on their landing fees as well as gift certificates at Alice's Restaurant for pilots of airlines that compiled with the noise abatement flight routes 85 percent of the time.

In March, Cape Air/Nantucket Airlines complied with the noise abatement flight paths 90 percent of the time, with Island Air complying 77 percent of the time and Nantucket Shuttle complying 79 percent of the time.

LaForge said he would be instructing his pilots to go back to flight paths popular prior to 1997, where planes would fly over the island using the water tower and dump as landmarks on one side and the third point of Coatue on the

other side of the island. I