ANCA: Short Term Gain Leads to Long Term Pain for Airport Capacity

The 1990 U.S. Airport Noise and Capacity Act (ANCA) effectively prohibits airports from restricting aircraft operations in any meaningful way. By depriving airports of flexibility in reaching compromises with surrounding communities about their aircraft noise exposure, ANCA has hardened community opposition to airport expansion nationwide, while raising the degree of controversy of proposals for constructing airport infrastructure. The current aircraft noise regulatory environment in the U.S. has also created a legacy of controversy and inadequate disclosures of predicted environmental impacts of aircraft noise exposure. In combination with other obsolete noise regulatory policies, the net effect of ANCA's prohibition on operational restrictions is that it has become nearly impossible to increase airport capacity in the U.S. A number of improvements to regulatory practice are suggested which, in the long-term, may alleviate current runway capacity constraints.