Airport coverage is disappointing

The Burbank Leader’s recent editorial and news coverage of Bob Hope Airport has been disappointing, to say the least.

The Leader ran a correction of its Jan. 14 editorial that said the exit of American Airlines would mean a loss of 3.9 million annual passengers at Bob Hope Airport, a figure that overshot the mark by a whopping 3.6 million.

Correction appreciated, but the original error was not.

Then followed a feeble attempt to analyze and critique the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority’s ongoing evaluation of the financial feasibility of building the Regional Intermodal Transportation Center, implying that the cities of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena were somehow at risk, and calling for a “serious and thorough evaluation” of that financial risk — as if no such evaluation were taking place.

The financial stakeholders in this situation are the airport authority, the airlines and the rental car companies, not the three cities. Evaluating the financial feasibility of this project before proceeding is not only what these parties are doing (and were doing, long before the Leader’s editorial), it is the prudent and appropriate approach.

Finally, the Leader ran a story about current litigation against the airport authority involving a harassment complaint by an airport police officer who alleged discrimination because of sexual orientation.

While the Leader got it right that the authority denies all of the charges, the accompanying photo shows an identifiable female police officer, but no female officers are part of this litigation. In a story with this level of sensitivity, the Leader had no business “illustrating” the story with the likeness of an officer who had no involvement in it.

Readers have a right to expect something better than these three examples in future coverage.

Victor Gill

Bob Hope Airport

Editor’s note: Gill is public affairs and communications for the airport.