(Teterboro, NJ) – Congressman Steve Rothman along with officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and aviation industry officials held a news conference today at Teterboro Airport marking the two year anniversary of the “Pledge to the Community” program he helped negotiate in 2006.

“Significant progress has been made since 2006 but there is still much more work to be done,” said Rothman who represents the airport and the surrounding communities in the United States House of Representatives.  “Teterboro Airport has been a noisy and somewhat bothersome neighbor for decades but it is also a neighbor that employs 1,137 people, creates 15,554 other jobs and generates $1.8 billion in annual economic activity in the region.  This is a neighbor we want to keep, as long as we can figure out how best to live next to each other.”

Today’s news conference presented updates to the five pledges agreed to in 2006.  Those five pledges were:

1.    Reducing Stage II (the noisiest jets) Operations
2.    Reducing Night Time Flights
3.    Keeping Large Aircraft From Operating At Teterboro
4.    Making Safety Improvements
5.    Making Security Improvements  

Rothman said he was pleased with the progress being made in four of the five pledge areas.  “Stage II flights are down 43%, significant safety and security improvements have been made or are in the planning stages and we have preserved the long-time ban on planes over 100,000 pounds operating at the airport”, said the Congressman. “In addition we have seen the overall number of flights at the airport decline by over 9% to the lowest level since 2001.”

However, Rothman was unhappy with the lack of progress being made in two important areas.  “When the Working Group announced these pledges two years ago it had just over 50% of the operators at Teterboro voluntarily agreeing to abide by these pledges and it set a goal of having 90% signed up by the end of 2007.  Unfortunately they have fallen well short of that goal since just over 60% of the operators have signed up so far”, said Rothman.  “They simply must do better.  It is my expectation that the Working Group will redouble their efforts in this area.”

The Congressman was also unhappy with the 16% reduction in overnight flights at the airport.  “I thought they would do better in cutting the number of night time flights,” said Rothman.  “Nothing is more intrusive to the people living near the airport than having a low-flying, loud aircraft over their home in the middle of the night.  We must work toward banning those flights completely to reach our goal of having no such flights at all and improving the quality of life of the residents of the area.”

Rothman summarized by pointing out that, “The bottom line is that there has been real progress in the last two years.  Things are definitely improved from where they were before this agreement and a better balance has been struck between preserving the jobs and economic activity generated by the airport and protecting and enhancing the quality of life of the people who live, work and go to school near Teterboro.  I am very happy to let the public know this process is working and that we will keep up the pressure to make sure that progress continues to be made at Teterboro airport.”

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