Flights

The number of passengers using Bob Hope Airport dropped in April as high fuel prices spurred airlines to raise fares and reduce service to common destinations. The number of commercial travelers arriving or departing from Burbank fell by 5.2% in April compared to the same period a year earlier, according to an airport report. It is the second consecutive month passenger figures dipped below projections. Airlines have cut back on the number of flights into and out of the facility as they counter rising fuel prices by ensuring planes operate near seating capacity.

Only a handful of Southwest Airlines flights out of Bob Hope Airport have been cancelled since one of the airline’s planes ripped open mid-flight in route from Phoenix to Sacramento. The airline voluntarily removed 79 of the 171 Boeing 737-300 aircraft in its fleet from service on Saturday to complete full inspections. The inspections resulted in eight cancelled flights from the Burbank airport. Boeing’s 737-700 model, a different version of the plane, is in primary use there.

Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have grounded one effort to create a hard curfew on night flights out of Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, so local representatives have introduced the same rules as a stand-alone piece of legislation.

AIRPORT DISTRICT ? Southwest Airlines, which accounts for two-thirds of passenger traffic at Bob Hope Airport, will phase out 12% of its weekly flights by September, airport officials said. The carrier?s decision to trim 82 flights from its weekly schedule is expected to further decrease already-declining passenger numbers at the commuter hub. The drop from 712 to 630 weekly flights will mean a 6% reduction in the total weekly flights leaving the airport. The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority this week presented the proposal to airport commissioners.

AIRPORT DISTRICT — Five months after federal officials rejected a nine-year, multimillion-dollar application for nighttime flight restrictions, Bob Hope Airport officials on Monday announced plans to possibly switch the current curfew from voluntary to mandatory. Joyce Streator, president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, made the announcement, saying the authority has begun discussions with airlines on converting the existing voluntary nighttime curfew between 10 p.m. and 6:59 a.m. into a permanent mandatory restriction for all passenger air carriers.

War veterans and U.S. history buffs filled a dirt lot bordering Bob Hope Airport this weekend to get a glimpse of a restored World War II B-17 bomber. More than 120 people signed up for a chance to take a 30-minute ride on a bomber named “Liberty Belle,” one of 14 remaining B-17s to still fly today. The rides cost about $400. “I figure it’s probably one of those once-in-a-lifetime kind of deals,” Burbank resident Don Fukumoto said Saturday, shortly before boarding the bomber with his two brothers and stepfather.

BURBANK — War veterans and U.S. history buffs filled a dirt lot bordering Bob Hope Airport this weekend to get a glimpse of a restored World War II B-17 bomber. More than 120 people signed up for a chance to take a 30-minute ride on a bomber named “Liberty Belle,” one of only 14 remaining B-17s to still fly today. The rides cost around $400. “I figure it’s probably one of those once-in-a-lifetime kind of deals,” Burbank resident Don Fukumoto said Saturday, shortly before boarding the bomber with his two brothers and stepfather.

BURBANK — Lightning, wind and rain caused a number of problems this past week, but city officials said the damage was relatively minor given the strength of the storms. Two Southwest flights on approach to Bob Hope Airport from Oakland and Sacramento landed safely Tuesday morning after they were struck by lightning, sending two flight attendants to a local hospital for treatment and evaluation of unspecified injuries. Two days later, during the most intense storm of the week, the air carrier canceled all flights between 1 and 6 p.m. due to “unfavorable wind conditions,” affecting 17 arriving and departing flights and creating long wait times for some passengers, airport officials said.