Commercial Flights To Paine Field Delayed Until 2019

Maybe a dumb question.. but the area sees hundreds of take offs and landings for Boeing test flights everyday, how much more would the environment get affected by 24 more landings and takeoffs?

Very strange. The original application projected 2 MD 80 flights per day by Allegiant and 10 Q400 flights by Alaska/Horizon. Is that much different from 24 E175's and 737's? Besides, Paine Field airline service means fewer cars to SEA and slightly fewer passengers at SEA, reducing pollution.

With this environmental re-review planned, would it be possible for the FAA to delay or stop any airport from adding 2 gates or more than 12 flights?

I guess they couldn't start with 10 flights while waiting for the new impact assessment?

@Unnayan Jain,
Where are you getting "hundreds" of Boeing flights from? Small private plates account for most of the current traffic. According to the article:

Currently small private aircraft do most of the flying at Paine Field. Airport officials said small planes averaged 285 operations per day in 2016, counting not only landings and takeoffs but repeated touch-and-go pilot-training maneuvers, each equivalent to a landing and a takeoff.

The airfield is also used by Boeing for its widebody jet deliveries and by aircraft maintenance and overhaul company ATS, which maintains and overhauls airline jets, mostly narrowbody 737s and A320s, and sometimes by the military.

Operational data supplied by the airport show these large aircraft last year accounted for a daily average of just 12 landings or takeoffs per day out of the airfield.

Unnayan Jain - We don't know - hence the need for an assessment. It's not just the take off and landings, it's also things like congestion and people getting to and from the airport etc. There's a huge number of tiny things that most people would never even consider need to be looked at.

Interesting they need to delay the whole thing though - could they not open as "Phase 1" doing operations as first envisaged, then expand after the additional assessment is done?

Dang. It was too good, and made too much common sense to be true.

I visited the area last month. I parked my car and waited for 30 minutes to see a plane land or takeoff. There were none so I left. Doesn't seem that busy.

Why delay the ENTIRE project and not just phase in what was originally proposed????? Makes absolute sense but then again look at what state we live in! Nothing ever gets done on time or on budget! Maybe figure on 2030 ( if ever ).