High-Flying Oracle Chief Sues for Right to Land
02:24 p.m Jan 06, 2000 Eastern
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - What's the point of having a $38
million private jet if you can't land it when you want?
That's what the billionaire head of Oracle Corp must be asking.
After almost two years fighting San Jose International Airport's
curfew and nine violation citations, Oracle Chief Executive
Larry Ellison, a Silicon Valley billionaire who heads the world's
largest database software company, has decided to sue for the
right to take off and land all night long.
``We don't think the aircraft violates the regulations as they
presently stand,' Ellison's attorney, Edward Davis, Jr., said
Thursday. ``But it is primarily for political reasons that the city is
refusing to recognize this.'
In the suit filed Wednesday in federal district court in San Jose,
Ellison charged the city with unfairly enforcing an ordinance
which bans planes weighing more than 75,000 pounds (34,000
kg) from using the airport between 11:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.
Ellison's Gulfstream V weighs about 90,500 pounds (41,000
kg) at take off when fully fueled. But he is arguing that the luxury
corporate jet is in fact much quieter than some planes that weigh
less, and should be allowed late night use of the airport.
``We're not arguing that curfews per se are bad ... what we're
saying is that they have got to be non-arbitrary and
non-discriminatory,' Davis said. ``This curfew is (intended to
fight) noise, but it is written on weight.'
The city has threatened to sue Ellison after his plane recorded
no fewer than nine violations of the airport curfew since June
1998.
City officials told the San Jose Mercury News they had not yet
seen the suit had could not comment on its specifics. But
Assistant City Attorney Bill Hughes said the administration
planned to stand behind the late night flight ban.
``We believe that the curfew is an appropriate and defensible
regulation, and we believe we'll be able to defend it in court,'
Hughes said. |
