Oxnard manufacturing executive Mike Conway flies out of Los Angeles International Airport on business every other week, and like many air travelers he would like to see a regional airport closer to home.
Mike Beck, a Ventura resident and theatrical designer, dreads the clogged freeways and irritating flight delays that often accompany his trips to LAX. He would fly from Ventura County if commercial jets landed there, and he believes other people would too.
"Absolutely," he said. "People would flock to that." Six years ago, county leaders were eagerly pursuing plans to create a regional airport at Point Mugu after the Navy offered to share its 11,100-foot airstrip with commercial airlines and cargo carriers as a way of defraying costs.
A task force was formed, studies prepared. Planners hailed the coastal military base as the best site for a regional airport, one that would serve up to 2 million air passengers annually and pump enormous amounts of money into the local economy.
Today, however, the vision of commercial jets touching down at Point Mugu has all but vanished--leaving Ventura as one of only two Southern California counties--Imperial being the other--without a regional airport.
The absence of such a facility is all the more glaring as debate continues this summer over the proposed expansion of LAX.
Opponents of the $12-billion project, which would add gates, taxiways and a terminal, say a projected doubling of air passengers by 2025 should be distributed among regional airports.
Oxnard Airport and Point Mugu are identified in the LAX Master Plan as airstrips that could meet future demands, even though neither site provides commercial jet service and the chances for such expansion are slim.
"There is no possibility at this point in time for a regional airport in Ventura County," said Supervisor Frank Schillo, who chaired an airport authority created to study shared use at Point Mugu. "It's dead."
Joint-Use Plan Offered by Navy
What happened?
In March 1993, the Navy proposed opening a joint-use military and civilian airport at Naval Air Weapons Station Point Mugu to boost revenue during a period of military downsizing.
Community and business leaders cheered the proposal as a way to create jobs, promote tourism and stimulate investment in Ventura County. The Point Mugu Regional Airport Authority was formed in 1995 to bring the plan to fruition.
But when the Navy's fortunes changed, officials began to back away from the plan.
The arrival of new tenants, including four squadrons of high-tech E-2C radar planes in 1998, turned Point Mugu into a rapidly growing military operation. In July 1999, the outgoing base commander told county leaders a joint-use airport was no longer feasible.
Since then, Point Mugu has added operations and carved a niche as one of the nation's few remaining coastal bases where the military can conduct training exercises and missile tests without interference from civilian airplanes.
Landing commercial jets at such an active base would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, said Capt. Jim Rainwater, the base commander and a former fighter pilot.
"I don't see it ever working here; I really don't," he said. "[The base] would not be able to support a joint-use effort with all the operations we have now."
Last fall, Point Mugu formally merged with the Seabee base at Port Hueneme to become Naval Base Ventura County. The two-site base now employs 9,024 military personnel and 6,780 civilian workers. It is the largest employer in Ventura County, pumping an estimated $1.7 billion into the local economy.
Mindful of those statistics, political leaders haven't pressed the airport issue.
"You can't do it without the Navy," Schillo said, "and the Navy has said 'No.' "
That is bad news for Ventura County travelers and business leaders. Demand for air service can only grow, making the lack of a regional airport not just an inconvenience, but an economic liability, they say.
"The lack of [a regional airport] becomes more and more of a competitive weakness for Ventura County," said Steve Kinney, president of the Greater Oxnard Economic Development Corp.
Kinney cites BMW as an example. The German auto maker wanted to build a training facility in Oxnard near its engineering lab. But the lack of a nearby airport to accommodate employees arriving from around the country was a deal breaker.
"They simply said they couldn't do that because the air service to the Oxnard area was inadequate," Kinney said. "So they went to Ontario."
Bill Watkins, executive director of the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project, said improved air passenger and cargo service would be a "shot in the arm" for area businesses. But given the local economy's rapid growth, it is hard to tell whether the lack of an airport has been a problem, he said.
"Ventura County is one of the fastest-growing places in the world right now economically. But most of that growth is in the east county and is closer to major airports in Burbank and Los Angeles," Watkins said.
"We generally think that high-tech groups need a lot of mobility," he said. "But they are getting by with driving to L.A. and using smaller jets."
That is true for biotech giant Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks, which shuttles employees to LAX or Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport for business trips. It's also true for Seminis Inc. of Oxnard, the nation's largest vegetable seed company, which flies employees and 30% of its products out of Los Angeles.
LAX Expansion Foes Looking to Regions
But regional planners say there is no way LAX can handle an estimated doubling of passengers over the next 20 years.
The city agency that runs the airport wants to increase its capacity. Opponents of the expansion plan want passenger demand distributed among airports across the region.
For now, Ventura County has nothing to offer.
Supervisor Judy Mikels, who serves on the transportation committee for the Southern California Assn. of Governments, said she has been "somewhat chagrined that we are not taking our fair share."
But she doesn't see the situation improving any time soon.
"The future doesn't look real great," said Mikels, who is training to be a pilot. "Realistically, I don't believe we will ever site an airport in Ventura County. I shouldn't say 'ever,' but it is highly unlikely due to the negative feeling toward airports."
Oxnard Airport Faces Community Opposition
Oxnard Airport has increasingly become the target of such attacks.
Built in 1934, the one-terminal airport currently provides the only commuter service in the county with five daily flights to Los Angeles and two daily flights to Phoenix on small passenger planes.
Community opposition and noise complaints have grown as new housing tracts and strip malls have paved over the checkerboard farmland that once surrounded the runway.
Last fall, residents and Oxnard's mayor called for the airport's closure after America West announced plans to offer nonstop shuttle flights to Phoenix.
Charles McLaughlin, owner of Aspen Helicopters, the largest tenant at Oxnard Airport, said opponents don't understand what an important service the airport provides.
"To me, it's kind of like a little, quiet secret," he said. "It's out of the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles."
Indeed, stepping into the small concrete terminal at Oxnard Airport is like stepping back in time. Inside are two airline counters, one metal detector and a gray cat named Minnie who stands at the front entrance waiting for travelers to trigger the automatic door.
"It's like the old days," said Philadelphia resident Christine McGuire, who flew to Oxnard via Phoenix to visit Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this month with her husband and 17-year-old son.
Oxnard Airport is unlikely to change, given community opposition and other limitations, including a short runway with a low weight capacity that prevents larger commercial jets from landing there, officials say.
"From the county's perspective, the Oxnard facility is not going to be a regional facility," said Scott Smith, the county's airport director. "We are not going to be a John Wayne or a Santa Barbara, and it is because of the location."
The same limitations face small general aviation airports in Camarillo and Santa Paula, which primarily support recreational pilots and vintage planes.
Copyright 2001, Los
Angeles Times
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