NEWS BLOG - LATEST
HEADLINES
Week of January 26 - February 1, 2009
Dramatic redistribution of
passengers at SoCal airports - El Toro Info Site report
In Southern
California,
the years from 2000 to 2008 brought dramatic changes to the
aviation
industry. The continuously upward trend in air travel was broken by
factors that could not be anticipated by government planning
organizations like the Southern California Association of Governments
(SCAG).
While
planners envisioned multi-billion dollar investments
in Maglev trains and new airports to regionalize traffic away from LAX,
travelers
took matters into their own hands and simply avoided the Los Angeles
airport.
Two
other airports owned by Los
Angeles World Airports, LA/Ontario and
LA/Palmdale, were envisioned as key to regionalizing travel but neither
took off during this period.
The
reversal of fortunes in air travel is often blamed on the price of oil
and the state of the economy but some airports have grown despite being
faced with these same factors.
Nine years of data compiled by
the El Toro Info Site tracks the dramatic redistribution of traffic
between Southern California airports.
LAX lost nearly 8 million passengers, 11.6 percent of its
business. Most didn’t stop flying; they switched to other airports.
Over
2 million more travelers opted to fly from San Diego. Over 2 million
shifted to nearby Long
Beach Airport
when
JetBlue and other airlines filled the airport’s empty slots. More than
a
million of them switched to John Wayne airport after county supervisors
relaxed the airport’s negotiated passenger
cap. Burbank and Palm Springs airports also saw growth
in 2000-2008.
This
idea doesn’t fly with me -
Daily
Pilot, The Bell Curve
How many of you were shaken up Wednesday morning by reading a Pilot
headline with a double whammy?
First, that Virgin America Airline will soon be flying five new daily
departures out of John Wayne Airport. And, second, that the earliest is
scheduled to depart at 6:45. In the morning, that is.
So I called Ayres Boyd who heads up the Airport Working Group, which
has been in the trenches fighting off the expansionists for many years,
to find out if they were on top of this one.
I asked Boyd what kind of response the Working Group got to a Forum
piece in the Pilot — co-signed by AirFare and Stop Polluting Our
Newport — that laid out a specific, rational regional transportation
plan to resolve the problem of over-burdened airports, particularly JWA.
“Very little,” he said, “and none from Newport Beach where the noise
problem is greatest. And no response, either, from the Newport
Beach-Costa Mesa partnership to address JWA problems and plans.
“It doesn’t seem to be a top level issue in either city, nor does our
effort to seek a means to buy the adjacent golf course property to
prevent its use for a runway extension to accommodate larger planes.”
All of this is being played off against an ongoing $650-million
construction project that has turned into a semantic game between the
various factions.
Airport officials refer to the construction as “improvement,” while the
Working Group calls it ”expansion” and is keeping a jaundiced eye on it
while strongly questioning the timing of allowing a project of this
size and dubious need to go forward in the economic crisis we all face
today.
Meanwhile, what would Boyd suggest as marching orders for the people
most affected by possible growth at JWA?
“Taking action,” he said emphatically. “There’s no strategy in place to
prevent that growth. We need somebody to drive it. To act like they
mean it.”
Will JWA become an international airport? - OC
Register
With Air Canada planning service at John Wayne Airport by summer, will
Orange County finally get designated as an international airport?
Not quite yet, says airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge. Here’s her
response:
“Good question. No, John Wayne Airport will not be designated
international at this point. For Air Canada,
passengers will clear screening in Canada. Sometimes known as
pre-clearance. When our new Terminal opens in 2011, we are planning to
construct Federal Inspection Services and at that point, it could
change our airport designation. We continue to work with Customs and
Border Patrol to coordinate this.“
JetBlue Airways to begin flying out of LAX - LA
Times
JetBlue Airways Corp. was expected to announce that it would begin
flying out of Los Angeles International Airport, with daily nonstop
service to Boston and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The service, which is expected to begin in late spring, could help
ignite a transcontinental fare war at LAX, especially for flights to
Boston.
Two carriers -- American and United -- now offer four daily flights
from LAX to Boston's Logan International Airport. A third airline,
Virgin America, plans to begin Boston service next month, with fares
starting at $149 one-way.
JetBlue, which has drawn a loyal following at Long Beach Airport with
lower fares and newer jets than many other airlines, had hoped to start
the LAX service last May. But the carrier grounded the idea after fuel
costs got so high that it could not operate the flights without
incurring losses. Fuel prices are now at less than half of what they
were in May.
Grant to pay for sound
insulation of homes near Bob Hope Airport
- LA Daily News
Hundreds of homes will be insulated from the buzz of airplane noise
under a $7 million federal grant awarded to Bob Hope Airport on
Tuesday.
The money will pay to soundproof 207 homes by replacing doors and
windows, insulating attics and improving weather stripping and
ventilation.
This grant comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation and is
combined with a local match.
With this latest grant, Bob Hope Airport has received $83.6 million in
federal money through the years for noise mitigation. There have been
1,500 homes in the Burbank area insulated from aircraft noise.
From the O.C. to San Francisco for $49? -
LA Times
A new skirmish in the West Coast air fare wars has erupted in Orange
County, where upstart Virgin America and low-cost behemoth Southwest
Airlines are battling for travelers with some of the lowest priced
tickets in recent memory.
Virgin America, the airline that has shaken up the industry since it
was started by British billionaire Richard Branson a little more than a
year ago, announced Tuesday that it would begin flying between John
Wayne Airport and San Francisco International Airport in late April and
offered an introductory one-way fare of $59.
Southwest, which had announced two weeks ago that it would start
service to San Francisco from John Wayne, immediately responded by
slashing its own promotional fare to $59, and then to $49 late Tuesday
on flights that matched Virgin America's departure times.
Small print: Fares do not include
Passenger Facility Charges of up to $9 each way, September 11th
Security Fees of up to $5 each way and a Federal Segment Tax of $3.60
per domestic segment.
The tit-for-tat battle is expected to benefit Orange County air
travelers, who have been paying higher average fares than travelers
using other regional airports in Southern California.
Air
Canada may offer first JWA
international service -
OC Register
“Air Canada has been given passenger capacity to begin operations in
the new (JWA) plan year, starting April 1,” says JWA spokeswoman Jenny
Wedge. “At this point, we continue to work with them on the logistics
of customs/immigration, as well as their lease agreement with the
Airport.”
She says airport officials are anticipating Air Canada service will
start closer to the summer time. Destinations have not been announced.
The airport has been hampered in offering international flights because
it doesn't have customs facilities. Air Canada, however, provides U.S.
customs clearance at its airports removing the need for customs at JWA.
Website Editor: Adding
a customs area was part of the justification for building a third
terminal at the Orange County airport. Air Canada has been on the JWA waiting
list for seven years. Too bad no one took advantage of the
carrier's customs clearance capacity before now.
Virgin starts flying at JWA April 30 - OC
Register
Virgin America announced it will
start service at John Wayne Airport April 30. The airline will fly
five flights a day from JWA to its hub in San Francisco.
Virgin will launch its Orange County service with a special
introductory one-way fare of $59 for its main cabin. Other fares will
be $145 in the new Main Cabin Select premium service and from $209 in
the First Class cabin. For the introductory fares, tickets must be
purchased by April 14 and your trip must begin on or after April 30 and
be completed by June 10.
Website Editor: Orbitz
currently shows $386 for one-way tickets on US Airways, American and
United in April and May.
Commercial operations to close
at Palmdale Regional Airport
- LA
Times
More than seven weeks after United Airlines canceled its flights out of
Palmdale, Los Angeles World Airports announced Monday that it plans to
surrender its federal certification to operate Palmdale Regional
Airport as a commercial facility.
Mike Molina, an L.A. World Airports spokesman, said that maintaining
the certificate no longer makes sense given the economic recession and
the difficulty developing air service in the high-desert city, where
eight airlines have come and gone since 1971.
Should the opportunity arise to provide air service in the future,
Molina said, Los Angeles World Airports can easily reapply to the
Federal Aviation Administration for permission to operate at Palmdale.
The FAA requires that certain conditions be met before a certificate is
granted, such as runway inspections, adequate staffing and emergency
preparedness plans.
Because a substantial effort has been made to develop Palmdale airport,
L.A. World Airports officials contend that pulling out of the airport
for now will not violate a 2005 court settlement that requires the
agency to pursue a policy of regionalism -- spreading the growth in air
travel to airports across Southern California to relieve congestion at
LAX.
Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said the loss of certification should not
interfere with the city’s plans to take over the agency's leases with
the U.S. Air Force and assume responsibility for attracting carriers to
the airport.
Week of January 19 - January 25, 2009
Airbus A380 is a mixed blessing for LAX -
LA
Times
The immense plane causes problems at L.A.'s airport, but in the world
of aviation, bigger is considered better, so LAX copes.
Every time Qantas lands one of its giant Airbus A380s at LAX, parts of
the nation's fourth-busiest airport come to a halt.
Service roads, taxiways and runways must be closed to airfield trucks,
cars and other commercial aircraft as the world's largest passenger
plane arrives, departs and taxis with an official escort of operations
vehicles.
The plane is so immense that air traffic controllers give it priority
so it doesn't have to wait for takeoff at the end of the airport's
southern runways in cloudy or foggy weather because it can disrupt
radio signals from the airport's instrument landing system.
More than any other airliner, LAX officials say, the A380 requires
special procedures because Los Angeles International Airport was not
built to accommodate a plane of its size.
Despite occasional griping from airlines, LAX, Qantas, and Federal
Aviation Administration officials say that A380 operations have gone
fairly well since October, when the Australian carrier began service to
Los Angeles from Melbourne and Sydney.
Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports,
says the A380 underscores the need to proceed with key elements of the
LAX modernization plan or risk losing flights to other airports. The
projects include new gates at the Bradley terminal, a wider cross-field
taxiway and a mid-field concourse that would eliminate the need to bus
international travelers from remote gates to the main customs and
immigration facility.
SoCal commercial airports lost 6
million passengers in 2008 - El Toro
Info Site report
As final data trickles in, this website estimates that Southern
California airports, including San Diego, served over 103 million
passengers in 2008. Collectively, the airports lost almost 6 million
passengers when compared to 2007's record of 109 million.
The 2008 total is
fewer passengers than in 2000, the last complete calendar
year before the 9-11 attacks.
See more below on LAX and Ontario and
John Wayne Airport.
A full reporting by airport will follow when all seven airports have
posted their results.
Virgin moves forward at JWA
According to a spokesperson for John
Wayne Airport, Virgin American has scheduled the airport's mandatory
noise tests of it aircraft for next Tuesday.
However, there has been no
further announcement on Virgin's destination or start dates.
Supervisors allocated 5 daily departures to the carrier after advancing
it from the airport's waiting list of airlines seeking to serve Orange
County.
Region's
airports reflect
decline in economy -
LA Times
LAX suffered a 4.7% drop in passenger levels last year, including a
16.34% plunge in December, report finds.
Hit hard by a deepening recession and persistent declines in air
travel, the number of passengers at Los Angeles International Airport
dropped by almost 3 million in 2008, reversing the airport's slow
recovery from 9/11 and the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak
of 2003, new figures show.
Year-end statistics from Los Angeles World Airports show that passenger
levels at the nation's fourth-largest airport decreased from 62,438,583
in 2007 to 59,497,539 last year, a drop of 4.71%. Air freight handled
at LAX declined from about 2 million tons in 2007 to about 1.8 million
tons last year.
Most of the passenger and cargo losses occurred in the last four months
of the year, including December, a traditionally heavy travel month,
which recorded a 16.34% decline in passengers.
The downturn has affected other airports in the region as well.
Passenger levels at John Wayne Airport in Orange County declined from
slightly less than 10 million in 2007 to about 9 million last year.
Airport statistics released Tuesday show that Ontario handled 6,232,761
passengers last year, about a million less than in 2007.
Palmdale handled 21,805 passengers before United Airlines canceled its
operations in December, leaving the High Desert city without commercial
air service.
Long Beach Airport traffic held up in 2008
Long Beach
Airport served 240,676 passengers in December. The
total for calendar year 2008 was 2,913,926, a small gain of 0.3 percent
over 2007.
The airport held
up better than others in the region because LGB offered travelers more
flights. The number of air carrier landings increased by 9.4 percent
for the year.
Week of January 12 - January 18, 2009
Pat Bates elected
Chair of Board of Supervisors
This week, the OC Board of
Supervisors selected Supervisor Pat Bates of Laguna Niguel to be its
chairperson.
Pat has
been a long time friend of the anti-airport movement. She worked
tirelessly, in the state legislature, to
monitor attempts in Sacramento to cram El Toro airport onto Orange
County.
While
some Newport Beach activists did not love Pat for her El Toro
stance, she also stated in an October 1999 press release that "We categorically do
not support any [physical] expansion of John Wayne." Her position has
consistently been to advocate for greater utilization of airports like
Ontario in the Inland Empire.
As a fiscal
conservative, Pat introduced Assembly Bill 1248
that would have empowered Orange County voters to decide whether
revenue bonds could be sold to finance airport expansions, either at El
Toro or at John Wayne. Orange County has a special exemption from this
requirement of the State Revenue Bond Act, dating back to the days of
its bankruptcy. As a Republican, she had difficulty winning sufficient
support for the measure. The current expansion of John Wayne
Airport will require a projected $91 million of General
Airport Revenue Bonds for a portion of its financing.
Southwest Adds John Wayne, San Francisco
Flights - OC
Business Journal
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. plans to add five nonstop flights
between John Wayne Airport and San Francisco International Airport in
May.
Southwest is already the busiest carrier at John Wayne Airport with 46
daily nonstop departures. It now offers flights from Orange County to
Oakland.
American Eagle, a part of Texas’s AMR Corp., United Airlines, a part of
Chicago’s UAL Corp., and Utah’s SkyWest Inc. already offer a similar
route between the OC and San Francisco. Website Editor: See article below.
American Eagle and Skywest cut back JWA service in 2008.
Southwest plans to start the service by offering a $69 one-way fare
between the two cities for customers who buy their tickets 21 days in
advance.
JWA numbers down -
Daily Pilot
Airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport was down nearly 10% in
2008 from the previous year, numbers released Wednesday show. About 8.9
million passengers passed through John Wayne in 2008, compared with
about 9.9 million in 2007, the statistics show.
“The market has a way of taking care of some problems,” said Orange
County Supervisor John Moorlach.
Concerned about airport growth and the noisy passenger jets, residents
who live around John Wayne have long lobbied to keep passenger levels
at or below 10.8 million.
Aloha Airlines ended service from John Wayne on March 31 after the
airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The carrier flew six flights a
day out of John Wayne, which accounted for about 5% of John Wayne’s
daily operations, Wedge said.
“We never filled those slots, so that accounts for about half of the
decrease,” she said.
John Wayne allocates passenger seating to air carriers on an annual
basis and a few airlines gave seats back last year. American Eagle
Airlines returned 30,000 seats from its annual seating allotment at
John Wayne last fall and SkyWest Airlines returned 12,000 seats, Wedge
said.
American Airlines ended nonstop service between Orange County and
Austin, Texas, earlier this year, and Alaska Airlines dropped flights
between John Wayne and Oakland in April.
JWA completes 2008 below 9 million
passengers
Passenger
traffic at John Wayne Airport was 6.1 percent below the same month last
year. It was the slowest December at the airport since the aftermath of
the 9-11 terror attacks in 2001.
For
calendar year 2008, the airport served 8,989,603 passengers, a loss of
9.9 percent and about 1 million passengers from its 2007 level.
Air carrier operations fell by 8.0 percent.
We
predicted utilization of below 9 million last year and the likelihood that the airport will see even
fewer passengers in 2009.
The
county has approved two airlines on the JWA waiting list to commence
service and discussions are underway to implement this action.
Southern California officials draw up wish
lists for federal stimulus money - LA
Times
Billions of dollars are sought for road and transportation projects,
among others, to help jump-start the local economy. It is unclear how
many jobs could be created.
Los Angeles County supervisors urgently scrimmaged for federal stimulus
money Tuesday, proposing $2.7 billion in projects they say would help
jump-start the local economy.
The push by the county to get a share of the more than $800-billion
stimulus package that President-elect Barack Obama has asked Congress
to approve came as concern mounts about potentially massive losses in
state funding.
County officials are particularly worried about an expected shortfall
of hundreds of millions of dollars for social services at a time when
such programs are strapped by the rising demands of the unemployed and
underemployed.
Los Angeles County's wish list will be in competition with hundreds, if
not thousands, of others being drawn up around the nation.
In Orange County, officials have compiled $2.2 billion in projects, including $335 million for the expansion of
John Wayne Airport. San Bernardino County officials said they
have about $1.4 billion in highway projects in mind, but would not
draft a list until they have eligibility requirements. Riverside County
officials have said they will ask for at least $154 million, mostly for
transportation.
FAA delays Midway privatization approval
- Aviation Watch
The Federal
Aviation Administration's approval of the privatization of Midway
Airport has been delayed because the new operator still is negotiating
some financial agreements.
The FAA had
expected to sign off on the $2.5-billion transaction by now, ut the consortium led
by Vancouver-based YVR Airport Services Ltd., told the federal
agency it was still working on some financial agreements. That work
isn’t expected to be complete until April, the consortium said.
The FAA said
Monday, however, it expects to complete its review of the consortium before
April, but didn’t specify a time frame. Before taking over an
airport, a private operator must show the FAA it has the experience and
resources to handle the job. YVR operates Vancouver International Airport
and 17 others, and it won a 99-year lease to operate Midway in
September.
YVR is a joint
venture between the Vancouver Airport Authority and CitiGroup’s Citi
Infrastructure Investors in New York. Other partners in the Midway deal
include John Hancock Life Insurance Co. of Boston.
Disney
visitors key to shifting JWA passenger mix - El
Toro Info Site
Consultant
team leader Peggy Ducey shared with website editor Len Kranser her view on the conclusions of
an OCTA funded study
of John Wayne airport passengers.
A
Metrolink connection to JWA is impractical. The Orange County
airport is so readily accessible to its local and business users – most
by car
- that transit would be unacceptably slow and inconvenient.
However,
out-of-town visitor to the Disneyland
resort
area may be more budget conscious. The study found that 97 percent of
these
travelers are already using some form of transit. The consultant team
thinks
that many of these passengers would consider transit connections
between Anaheim and Ontario
Airport – in lieu of JWA – if Ontario had the
flights and
prices they wanted, offered
good bus connections and they were given an
incentive to use ONT.
The
consultants hope to return to the Newport Beach City Council in several
weeks
with proposals for a study of how to induce visitors to the Magic Kingdom
to route through Ontario.
For Orange County
residents and business people, diverting these vacationers could open
up
capacity at JWA for direct flights to other popular but currently
underserved destinations.
Week of January 5 - January 11, 2009
'Mystery
airport' site is proposed on S.D. Bay -
San
Diego Union-Tribune
After several years of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, a private
business group believes it has landed on the ideal solution to the
vexing question of where to build a new international airport – the
shallow southern waters of San Diego Bay.
In patent documents filed with the federal government, the group said
the multilevel project would cover three square miles between Chula
Vista and Coronado, have three runways and sit partially on an island
of material dredged from the bay floor.
Passengers would reach the aquatic airport via an underwater tunnel.
La Jolla lawyer Leon Campbell, part of the trust touting the idea,
considers it the only viable replacement for the single-runway
Lindbergh Field.
Reaction ranged yesterday from cautiously positive to incredulous.
The federal government issued Campbell a patent Dec. 30, opening the
door to a public unveiling of what has became known as the “mystery
airport.”
"Go
Local" final report on NPB Council agenda
Tuesday, the Newport Beach City Council
will receive the final report on a $200,000 study funded by the Orange
County Transportation Authority. Newport and Costa Mesa pooled
grant requests to get the funds under Phase
1 of OCTA's
"Go Local" program.
According to the OCTA's
website:
OCTA
has developed the innovative Go Local program to enhance connections
between the Metrolink stations and surrounding communities. Since the
inception of the Go Local program, Orange County cities have worked to
develop concepts either individually or in partnership with adjacent
cities . . . to study possible extensions linking major activity and
employment centers with a Metrolink station.
The city manager and consultant team
recommend that the council "Receive and file the report with OCTA.
There is no desire to prepare an application for a Phase 2 study [for
further planning]."
Last
February, when the city council voted to seek the OCTA money, City
Manager Herman
Bludau said, "Ultimately, we want to get passengers from outside of
the county to other airports." The study did not appear to
further either that goal or OCTA's, significantly.
The
study report concludes:
The
financial feasibility of a light rail connection from any nearby
Metrolink station to the airport would be difficult to justify.
With the estimated cost in the billions of dollars and the relatively
small passenger base out of John Wayne Airport, the potential demand
does not justify a large scale capital project.
Public
transit will not attract significant air passengers traveling to JWA .
. . Focusing marketing efforts [on Disney area visitors], including
competitive pricing on higher occupancy transport, could reduce traffic
congestion at JWA . . . Consolidating hotel shuttle services into one
system could reduce traffic congestion considerably.
New
Chicago politics - Press
Telegram Editorial
Possibly nothing will come of it, but the Long Beach City Council voted
unanimously Tuesday to put off the subject [of leasing or selling Long
Beach airport] to its next meeting. Instead of taking up the issue in
closed session, the council took the sound advice of City Attorney Bob
Shannon to deal with it when interested parties could attend.
It sounds pretty extreme at first. Put the airport up for bid and see
how much it would be worth to investors to lease for the next 50 years
or so. But this is common practice at airports in Europe and Asia, and
it could become so in this country if airports take advantage of the
Federal Aviation Administration's relatively new Airport Privatization
Pilot Program.
So far, Chicago's Midway International Airport is the only one to apply
for one of four slots. Surprising to some, the bid came in at $2.5
billion despite the terrible environment for such deals in the nation's
credit markets. The city of Chicago will get about a billion dollars
after costs and retiring some debt. Under the new program, the money
doesn't have to be limited to airport-related projects, although under
Illinois law, the city will have to spend it either on infrastructure
or on helping to bail out public pension plans (which makes it
appealing to labor unions).
The thing to watch out for in the case of Long Beach Airport is
protecting the city's court-won noise ordinance, which limits the
number of flights.
Imagine what could happen to Long Beach's flight limits if the airport
ever fell into the grip of a regional authority controlled by
Sacramento politicians and an ambitious mayor of Los Angeles.
Air
carriers plan to offer fewer seats at JWA
For the first time in
several years, the OC Board of Supervisors is expected to allow air
carriers serving John Wayne Airport to fly all of the passenger seats
they requested. Past practice was to turn down part of the carriers'
total requests so as to keep the airport operating with a cushion below
its maximum allowed capacity.
The carriers now plan to offer fewer seats for 2009-10 than they
requested a year ago for 2008-09, when the Board cut their requests. As
a result of the shutdown of Aloha Airlines and the overall decrease in
air carrier plans, the number of seats to be allocated will be less
than the number allocated for 2008-09.
Plan
year
|
Air
carrier seats requested by airlines
|
Air
carrier seats allocated by county
|
2008-09
|
13,472,860
|
12,872,800
|
2009-10
|
12,546,808
|
12,546,808
|
Of these,
507,524 seats, or approximately 4 percent of the total number
allocated, are to new entrant airlines Air Canada and Virgin America.
Virgin has yet to schedule the airport's required noise qualification
tests. There are questions as to whether
the carrier will use its full allocation for the plan year which
commences on April 1.
John Wayne Airport is projected by this website to serve fewer than 9
million passengers this calendar year and approximately 8.7 million in
the current 2008-09 plan year that ends March 31. The airport is
allowed by an agreement negotiated with Newport Beach to serve 10.3
million annual passengers.
With airlines seeking fewer seats next plan year, the number of
passengers served is likely to drop further.
Land use near Inland airports a crucial
safety issue -
The Press-Enterprise
When the Perris City Council allowed a 173,000-square-foot distribution
center to be built inside the Air Force's "accident potential zone"
just south of the March Air Reserve Base runway, it defied a request by
two Riverside County supervisors who feared developing the buffer zone
more than the recommended 20 percent.
Pilots, Inland municipal airport managers and owners, and state
aeronautics and federal aviation officials are constantly assessing
what types of development could chip away at airport safety zones.
The state makes recommendations, but cities and counties can overturn
them, putting safety zones and development on a collision course.
The state sets guidelines for property owners and local jurisdictions
to determine appropriate land development near airports, said Terry
Barrie, a senior planning official with Caltrans' Division of
Aeronautics.
Those land-use compatibility plans are meant not only to ensure safety,
but also to reduce vulnerability to incompatible development and
preserve the long-term use of general aviation airports, Barrie said.
Yet a two-thirds majority vote by a city council or board of
supervisors can overrule the land-use plans.
Website Editor: Such city action is
not uncommon. The
Costa Mesa City Council overrode a determination by Orange County's
Airport Land Use Commission regarding the compatibility of high rise
development in North Costa Mesa near John Wayne Airport's flight paths.
Airport passenger numbers down -
Burbank Leader
Bob Hope Airport recorded 107,713 fewer passengers in November compared
with the same period in 2007, a 22.09% drop. Overall holiday travel was
down 13.8% from the previous year. The official tally isn’t in yet, but
the airport authority says Bob Hope could have a 10% drop from 2007.
But officials with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority hope
the worst is behind them as they look to study the effects of its
passenger drop-off.
Airport's closed meeting doesn't fly - Long Beach Press
Telegram
A City Council discussion on leasing or possibly selling the Long Beach
Airport will be heard in open session, not in closed session as had
been planned Tuesday.
Pressured by community advocates, the council voted unanimously Tuesday
to publicly discuss the matter that City Manager Pat West has said
called "leasing opportunities" that have been presented to the city by
several large finance companies.
Mayor Bob Foster tried to allay concerns before the council voted to
hold the open session at a future meeting. A date to discuss the
airport has not yet been set.
Councilwoman Rae Gabelich compared discussing the airport's future in
private to the process that had brought in JetBlue as the airport's
major airline.
"The turmoil and the division that happened because of the way that
JetBlue's contract was negotiated, the way it was brought out to the
community after it was all sealed behind closed doors, is something
that I would not want to see happen in this city again."
See earlier report below.
Long Beach puts airport privatization on agenda -
LA Times
In a closed meeting scheduled for Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council
is set to discuss whether to lease some, if not all, of the city's
small commercial airport to private investors, a move that could
generate millions of dollars in municipal revenue.
The idea has already sparked controversy over whether such an important
policy matter should be considered in secret and whether relinquishing
control of a valuable city asset to a private company would be in the
best interest of the public.
Local governments that have tried to privatize airports in the past
have found it to be a slow and frustrating process. Since 1997, a
Federal Aviation Administration program to privatize airports has had
six applications. Five have been terminated or withdrawn because of
community opposition, inadequate business plans, a lack of financing or
a repurchase by a government entity.
The only application awaiting FAA approval is from Chicago Midway
Airport, which now serves about 17 million commercial passengers a
year. Its proposed 99-year lease to a consortium of investors could
provide Chicago with about $2.5 billion. Supporters say it could be a
model for airport privatization.
More than 50 airports around the world have privatized their
operations, management or ownership since 1987. The practice is common
in Canada, Europe and Asia.
Last month, the L.A. controller's office suggested that Los Angeles
World Airports should consider privatizing operations at Ontario
International Airport, which has had a 30% decline in commercial
flights this year.
Week of December 29, 2008 - January 4, 2009
Buzz
over Long Beach Airport sale heats up -
El Toro Info Site
Could Long Beach action reopen idea of selling JWA?
The LA Times muses: Is
Long Beach Airport for sale? See
more in the Contra Costa Times story below.
The Long
Beach Report weighs in with more information - some of it seemingly
relevent to arguments presented when Supervisor Chuck Smith
unsuccessfully proposed selling John Wayne Airport in 2004 to pay off
O.C. bankruptcy debt. Smith's idea could have enabled Newport Beach to
buy control over the airport.
In 2004, Orange
County counsel said that proceeds from the sale could only be used for
airport purposes and Smith's idea was shot down. However, the Long
Beach Report provides the following excerpt from an FAA website that
appears to contradict that position (our emphasis added):
Congress
established the FAA's Airport Privatization Pilot Program to explore
privatization as a means of generating access to various sources of
private capital for airport improvement and development. Private
companies may own, manage, lease and develop public airports.
The
Act authorized the FAA to permit up to five public airport sponsors to
sell or lease an airport and to exempt the sponsor from certain federal
requirements that could otherwise make privatization impractical. The airport owner or lease holder would be
exempt from repayment of federal grants, return of property acquired
with federal assistance, and the use of proceeds from the airport's
sale or lease to be used exclusively for airport purposes.
With
limitations on the utilization of John Wayne Airport coming up
for renegotiation as soon as 2011, we expect Newport Beach
leaders to watch what happens in Long Beach for clues as to whether
the city could increase its grip on the O.C. airport through financial
means.
Will plans for selling Long
Beach Airport take off? -
Contra Costa Times
City manager says that several notable investors are interested in
striking up a deal.
Long Beach City Manager Pat West has called for a closed session of the
City Council next week that one councilwoman fears could lead to the
sale of Long Beach Airport.
The council is scheduled to meet at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall to
discuss "terms of lease or acquisition" of the airport, according to the meeting agenda.
West said Friday that the city had been contacted by a slew of
financial companies interested in an airport deal, including notable
potential investors such as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan,
Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, according to the meeting agenda.
If investors were interested in buying the airport, it could be done
through the Federal Aviation Administration's Airport Privatization
Pilot Program.
Several cities have shown an interest in that program, submitting
applications in recent years. However, most were withdrawn or rejected.
Only Chicago's
application to privatize Chicago Midway International Airport
remains, leaving four slots available only for nonlarge hub and general
aviation airports such as Long Beach's.
Slowdown catches up with
Lindbergh Field
San Diego's Lindbergh Field was the one
bright light in Southern California commercial aviation, with 2008 passenger volume
through October
running ahead of 2007.
The general slowdown caught up with San Diego in November when volume
for the month dropped by 14.1 percent. That was enough of a hit to drop
year-to-date passenger traffic 0.5 percent below the figure for the
same eleven months last year.
Political Landscape: Glendale
News Press
When the newest session for the U.S. House of Representatives begins
Tuesday, a slew of bills could come forward from [local legislators]
Reps. David Dreier, Adam Schiff and Brad Sherman, the representatives
and their aides said this week.
Bob Hope Airport could get some attention from Congress this year. The
proposed curfew on flights from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., part of the
airport’s Part 161 application to the Federal Aviation Administration,
stalled in 2008 after the federal government forced officials to beef
up its submission with environmental impact reports.
Schiff, whose district covers the airport, has already signaled his
support for the measure, but Sherman has not yet picked a side.
Sherman’s 27th District includes Burbank’s airfield and the Van Nuys
Airport, where a number of flights could be shifted if the FAA approves
Bob Hope’s application.
“He should want his constituents protected at night as well because if
it comes from Van Nuys or Burbank, his constituents are affected by
[plane noise],” said Charlie Lombardo, a Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena
Airport Authority commissioner. “It should be something we should all
be working together on.”
Members of the airport authority met with federal officials in
Washington, D.C. this year and expect to finalize its application in
2009, he said.
2008
– The SoCal Airport Year in Review
The El
Toro Info Site has tracked Southern California Airport developments on
a
daily
basis since 1996. Check the website’s 2007 Airport
Year in Review to see
how quickly air travel sentiment turned from bullish to skittish.
This
year, SoCal air travel slid to below pre-9-11 levels, upsetting
government
planning forecasts and raising questions about the reasonableness of
growth
assumptions.
If growth
is coming, then little was
done to increase airport capacity in the region to accommodate it. Any
airport plans and
construction in the works are officially labeled as “improvements” or
“modernization” rather
than “expansions”.
Efforts
to coordinate airport operations, in order to regionalize travel away
from LAX, backslid with the demise of the regional airport
authority, failure
of the heavily subsidized Palmdale operation and a major loss of
service at Ontario.
Here
were some of the year's top stories.
January – Southern
California
air travel set a record in 2007 but starts to taper off.
The
Southern California Regional Airport Authority gives up the ghost again
due
to pervasive unwillingness to expand airports - unless it is in someone
else's
back yard.
February – Free bus service is launched in an
attempt
to lure passengers to Palmdale.
Long Beach wins court approval to proceed with a
terminal expansion but no increase in flights.
Newport Beach groups seek to cap John Wayne Airport
forever at 10.8 million annual passengers when restrictions come up for
renegotiation in 2011.
March – Burbank
officials complete an FAA application for a curfew that would move late
night
flights to another airport; L.A. objects.
April – Santa Monica attempts to move noisy
jets elsewhere; meets
FAA resistance.
May – First quarter regional air travel
dips below
its 2007 level.
Construction
of new third terminal and parking structures at John Wayne raises local
concerns as to whether the “improvements” will
bring more
flights.
June – LAX’s south runway is relocated to
improve
safety, finally overcoming long opposition from Inglewood
neighbors.
July – Long Beach reacts to the economic
slowdown by announcing a
delay in its parking and terminal improvement project.
ExpressJet
service – heralded in 2007 as a major step towards regionalization –
will stop operating in September after less than a year of
providing
non-stop flights from Ontario and Long Beach to smaller cities.
August – San Diego
loses Zoom Airlines service to Europe
after a brief failed
attempt to reestablish overseas flights.
The
Palmdale Flyer free bus is revealed as a costly flop, carrying less
than 1
passenger per day. Free vans will replace busses.
September – Newport Beach
and Costa Mesa
city
officials join forces in attempt to block greater utilization of JWA;
study ways to move passengers elsewhere.
October – Regional air travel falls below
2001
levels. Ontario - the only
viable airport with few restrictions on its growth -
experiences
the steepest decline. Only San
Diego
air traffic does not drop.
November – State voters support high speed
rail
measure on ballot.
DHL
decides to quit March Inland Port
where it began flights in 2005. March had beat out Ontario
and San Bernardino
to land the
air cargo hub. Airport neighbors celebrate the end of night time noise.
LAX
unveils $5-7 billion “modernization” plan.
December - United become the eight airline to
abandon Palmdale
airport when multi-million dollar subsidies run out.
Audit
of Los Angeles World Airports says “agreements
with local residents limiting passenger volumes or aircraft movements”
and the
failure of any agency “to take ownership of the problem” bodes ill for L.A.’s
regionalization concept.
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