Los Angeles politicians want the state to mandate a new Regional Airport Authority with power to expand airports by overriding the decision of local voters ["Airport plan could put El Toro in play,'' Register, Sept. 22]. The drive for "regionalization'' is led by the electeds representing neighborhoods around Los Angeles International Airport.

Proponents of the authority have one main goal - to modernize LAX but prevent its future growth. They want other airports to pick up more of the aviation load. Los Angeles - Southern California's 800-pound gorilla - would dominate the authority and decide the quality of life of smaller cities.

In the leading regional scenario, Burbank Airport would more than double. Ontario would grow to four times its size. The proposed airport authority could push a suggested third runway at Ontario, a commercial airport in Ventura County or greater use of Long Beach, despite strong local opposition.

Officials from L.A. and El Segundo hope to revive plans for a huge round- the-clock LAX-South at El Toro even though Orange County voters and their Board of Supervisors have rejected the project.

Instead, O.C.'s elected leaders are implementing an increase in the number of gates, flights and passengers at John Wayne. While they grow their airport, they are maintaining its strict night-time curfews. Regional planners might be much less neighbor-friendly.

Nowhere in California have several county governments been forced to give up land-use control to out-of-county members of a regional airport bureaucracy. Airport control affects the zoning of surrounding land, tax revenues, home values, road traffic and environmental safeguards against noise and pollution. This dangerous precedent could spread to other parts of the state.

But if we don't add runways, you might ask, how we would travel? The answer is that we have enough runways if we use them wisely. The future of transportation lies where it always has in this country, with industry's innovative response to market demands. We see that coming.

On some air routes, super-jumbo jets soon will carry two or more times as many passengers as older aircraft, halving the number of takeoffs and landings.

On other routes, new, efficient smaller jets will transport passengers from local airports to their destinations without the need to stop at a regional hub. Currently, 20 million connecting passengers a year are forced to fly in and out of LAX for no purpose other than to change planes. That is a flight load equivalent to John Wayne, Burbank and Ontario combined.

Fast, convenient ground connections will make it more acceptable to travelers to use runways that currently sit idle at Palmdale and three airports in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Inland cities are voluntarily seeking business for their closed military airbases.

Consider this key fact: One-third of all commercial flights in Southern California are short hauls under 400 miles.

The curator of air transport for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum sees opportunity in this: "In Europe and Japan, [high-speed rail] is taking over much of the short-haul work from the airlines, which are thereby relieved of the pressure to provide high-frequency service on short, busy and, often, loss-sustaining routes.'' He regards California as a natural to follow that example.

California is planning for 220-mph bullet trains linking San Diego, O.C. and L.A. with San Francisco and Sacramento. By 2020, the system could carry 68 million annual passengers, more than LAX handles today. We need citizens and local leaders committed to facilitating these emerging innovative transportation system solutions.

Meanwhile, we must vigilantly protect local community control of our airports against the LAX area's desire for a centralized five-county bureaucracy. A regional airport authority would shift too much power to those whose main political agenda is to protect only LAX.

Published in the OC Register, Sunday October 3, 2004