Airport noise: 3 people made 66% of complaints to YVR

According to a report from the City of Richmond, there were 1,695 total noise complaints about YVR airport filed in 2014 — up 31 per cent from 2013, but three people are behind 66 per cent of those complaints.

1,122 of those complains were filed by three nearby residents, living in Richmond, South Delta and South Surrey.

The Vancouver Airport Authority's VP of marketing Anne Murray said the airport has reached out to the three.

"What we do with all the complaints is we look at where they're coming from, how many people are making complaints and what kinds of things they're complaining about," she told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

"In this instance although the total number of complaints is up you recognize that three individuals are responsible for [66] per cent of them, and then you look at how many people complained. This year, it's the same number of people as last year, so we're not seeing a real increase in the total number of people calling."

Complaints were made by 278 people in 2014, compared to 279 in 2013.

Murray said while jet planes and float planes are noisy, the airport has a noise management committee that looks at ways to reduce noise.

"A couple years ago we actually introduced a new approach at YVR with a fly quiet award where we took the data from our noise monitoring terminals and evaluated it and identified three different winners," she said.

"It incents our pilots to fly community friendly."

To hear the full interview with Anne Murray, click the audio labelled: 3 people made 66 per cent of airport noise complaints.