The agreement (letter) is signed by City Attorney Charles Parkin, Lori Ballance (partner in Gatzke, Dillon and Ballance, aviation law firm/counsel to City of LB) and Robert Land (Sr. VP/Assoc. General Counsel JetBlue Airways) (all signatures dated June 21, 2018).
[Jointly signed letter JetBlue/City of LB, June 21, 2018]
Dear Mr. Land:
Consistent with our recent discussions, please find below the agreement reached between JetBlue Airways (JetBlue) and the City of Long Beach (City) regarding the pending appeals by JetBlue of noise violations dating from the second quarter of 2017 through the present. As indicated below, the original of this letter must be signed by JetBlue Airways, and that signature shall constitute JetBlue's acceptance of the terms, covenants and conditions of the numbered paragraphs of this agreement. This proposed agreement shall not be effective until such time as the original of this letter has been returned with your signature as a duly authorized officer of JetBlue Airways.
1. JetBlue hereby withdraws its pending appeals of noise violations dating from the second quarter of 2017 through the present, with prejudice, and agrees to pay all outstanding invoices to the Airport and City relating to JetBlue's noise violations dating from the second quarter of 2017 through the present within thirty (30) days of the effective date of this agreement, based on the following terms, covenants and conditions:
a) JetBlue will make all efforts to immediately and significantly curtail late night operational disruptions at Long Beach (defined as flights arriving or departing between the hours of 11 pm and 7am this summer with the expectation that they will be curtailed
even further after Labor Day weekend 2018 when already-published JetBlue schedule reductions take effect.
b) Going forward, JetBlue will make all efforts to obtain, whenever appropriate and causal, specific letters from the FAA to JetBlue noting the circumstances by which FAA directed delay of the specific Long Beach flight (arriving or departing) with the specific understanding that said letter will thus allow the flight to be considered "as late" due to "explicit ATC direction" pursuant to the exemptions provisions of the Ordinance, provided that the FAA letter indicates that the ATC is an explicit ATC directive/instruction. Long Beach Airport must be the origin or destination of the specific flight in question. JetBlue flights that are delayed because of maintenance or for other non-ATC reasons will continue to be subject to the normal provisions of the Ordinance and Consent Decree with the City Prosecutor.
c) This withdrawal of appeal applies to all appeals pending, including those being held in abeyance pursuant to the March 6, 2018 stay agreement between JetBlue and the City.
2. JetBlue reserves all legal and regulatory rights to appeal all future noise violations, occurring after the effective date of this agreement, consistent with the time limits for appeal provided in the Ordinance, should the stipulations to this agreement not be
honored. However, the pending appeals, for the noise violations from second quarter 2017 to the present, are hereby withdrawn by this agreement, with prejudice.
3. JetBlue also reserves all legal and regulatory rights and remedies to challenge changes to the slot resolution related to the "use or lose" provisions that have been under consideration since August 2017. JetBlue has already filed multiple comments to the City as this is separate from the current pending appeals.
As indicated above, the original of this letter must be signed by JetBlue Airways, and that signature shall constitute JetBlue's acceptance of the terms, covenants and conditions of the numbered paragraphs of this agreement. This proposed agreement shall not be effective until such time as the original of this letter has been returned with your signature as a duly authorized officer of
JetBlue Airways.
Very truly yours,
Lori D. Ballance
