LA-Area Cities Meet Skeptical Circuit Over Federal Flight Plan

Two Los Angeles-area cities struggled to convince a federal appeals panel during oral arguments Wednesday that the Federal Aviation Administration didn’t provide a credible environmental assessment before amending flight paths.

US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit judges questioned whether Malibu and Culver City, Calif., had standing for noise impacts that appeared speculative at best in their petitions to review 2018 amendments to Los Angeles International Airport procedures that raised maximum altitude limits.

Judge Milan Smith Jr. seemed particularly frustrated with the municipalities’ National Environmental Policy Act claims, stating the cities were using the statute “as a way stop ...