LOS ANGELES — Basking in the warm California sunshine, Van Nuys resident Sue Steinberg relishes being outside, especially with her dog, Mona. But lately, she said, going outside means confronting fumes from the constant stream of planes overhead.

“Constant, 24/7,” she said. “This is horrible.”

She lives down the block from Van Nuys Airport and moved into the neighborhood in 1986. Back then, it was relatively quiet according to Steinberg, but over the past few years, the airport has become increasingly busy with an uptick in private and charter jets.

“Between closing Santa Monica to jets and COVID, all of a sudden, everybody wanted to fly private,” she said. “There was an influx of money and an influx of private jets.”

This general aviation airport is one of the busiest in the nation, with no signs of slowing down as private jet traffic increases. Last year in the U.S., there were 2.8 million private jet flights, an 11% increase compared to 2021 and an 18% increase compared to 2019.

“The real kicker was when you couldn’t go outside because the fumes were so bad,” said Steinberg. “And in Los Angeles, we live outdoors.”

But controlling the number of flights can’t be done on a local level, according to Samantha Bricker with Los Angeles World Airports, the authority that manages the Van Nuys Airport. She said airspace is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“We’re not able to say what hours you fly here. We don’t have the ability to, for example, close down the airport at any particular time. We don’t have the ability to cap the number of flights that are coming in and out,” said Bricker.

She said LAWA has notified the FAA about residents’ concerns and they’re working to change flight paths back to a historic route that flies over fewer homes.

“That would really bring a lot of relief to people in the hillside communities and people in areas that had not been impacted previously,” she said.

Bricker said LAWA does, however, oversee how airport land is used and they’re looking at the frequency of charter flights, which she said are allowed, but they’re making sure companies are doing it legally. She said the airport has also asked planes to avoid flying at night.

The Los Angeles City Council is also taking notice. The district currently doesn’t have a representative after Nury Martinez resigned but other council members, including Nithya Ramen who co-authored a motion with Council member Bob Blumenfield and Council President Paul Krekorian, have asking LAWA about its community engagement on projects, to consider environmental impacts of its projects and ensure more transparency with the public. A report is due by the end of February.

“Luckily there are also other council offices in the neighborhoods that surround it, which are also impacted by some of the activities at the airport that are concerned with what is happening there and that are ensuring that LAWA is maintaining those lines of communication with the community and that’s really what this motion is about.

Steinberg said she’s still frustrated at the slow pace of change but remains intent on bringing peace and quiet back to her neighborhood.

“I don’t want to move. I shouldn’t have to move. You know, the noise is bad enough with all the private helicopters, private jets,” she said.