JWA flight schedules fluctuate in new year - OC Register Travel
Service to Canada is added while an N.Y. flight disappears, Hawaii service goes on hiatus.
The new year is bringing a flurry of changes to the flight schedule at John Wayne Airport.
WestJet, the Canadian discount carrier, announced last week that it will begin flying from Orange County to Vancouver, B.C., on May 2 and to Calgary, Alb., on June 13.
WestJet’s announcement comes as John Wayne Airport is dealing with some unexpected airline changes announced this month.
Continental Airlines suspended its service from John Wayne Airport to Honolulu and Maui on Jan. 9. The airline has announced it will return to flying the routes March 6, according to Jenny Wedge, a spokeswoman for John Wayne Airport.
Delta Air Lines ended its nonstop service between Orange County and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Jan. 3, less than four months after introducing the route.
Wedge said there is currently one airline actively on the airport’s waiting list for service: Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines. The airline told the airport it had no plans to start service but wanted to remain on the list.
Air Tran, which had been on the top of the list, opted not to request any flights in 2011. The airline is going through a merger with Southwest.
Website Editor: This is not an encouraging collection of news at a time when the airport is adding a 278,000 square foot third terminal.
Airport's staff size surfaces as an issue - Daily Bulletin
Officials here are questioning whether the LA/Ontario International - which employs 296 people - is overstaffed.
A report released by Ontario late last year cited staffing and the compensations that come along with those employees as some of the factors for the airport's financial woes.
Ontario's current compensation budget when it was staffing 302 employees was $30.9 million, an average of $102,400 per employee.
The report also notes that the number of workers at ONT is twice that of John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, where 175 workers handle 56 percent more passengers annually.
"It seems fairly large for anything that size. The number is similar to what San Diego has, which is much bigger," said Brett Snyder, author of CrankyFlier.com, who has been following the issue at ONT for more than a year.
Long Beach Airport, which has some 3 million annual passengers, had 124 employees budgeted for this year. Mario Rodriguez, Long Beach Airport's director, said the amount that is actually employed is a leaner 93 people.
By having a smaller staff, Rodriguez said his airport is able to keep overhead costs down, which in turn makes Long Beach an affordable option for travelers.
New Destination Orange County Leads WestJet’s Summer Expansion - media release
Canadian carrier WestJet is launching daily non-stop service to John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, California from Vancouver and Calgary on May 2 and June 13, respectively, as part of its 2011 summer schedule.
“O.C. is a great addition to our already successful service to Los Angeles,” says Hugh Dunleavy, WestJet’s executive vice-president, strategy and planning. “John Wayne Airport, located only minutes from Anaheim, offers car rentals on site and provides our guests with a gateway to Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and the surfing hot spot of Huntington Beach as well as water parks, historic landmarks and plenty of shopping attractions.”
Long Beach moves ahead
LGB finished 2010 with passenger traffic of 2.98 million, a 2.4 percent increase over the previous year.
Jet Blue, Long Beach's principal carrier announced that it will be adding service from the airport to Anchorage later in the year.
LAX finishes year with traffic up
Los Angeles International Airport completed calendar year 2010 with a 4.5 percent increase in volume over 2009.
The airport served 43,134,145 domestic passengers and 15,935,265 international passengers for a total of 59,069,409. While this was an improvement over 2009, it was still fewer passengers than used LAX in 2008.
The airport's biggest year was in 2000 when 67,303,182 travelers flew through LAX.
Ontario finishes 2010 down 1.2 percent
LA/Ontario airport served 4,808,241 passengers is 2010, 1.2 percent fewer than in 2009.
It was a disappointing year for an airport built to handle over 10 million and projected, by regional planners, to become Southern California's second largest airport serving around 30 million.
Palm Springs airport has an up year
Palm Springs International Airport served 1,495,167 passengers in 2010. This exceeded 2009 volume by 2 percent.
January 17 - January 23, 2011
Southwest to begin flying larger jets next year - Aviation Week
Southwest Airlines plans to begin taking deliveries of larger Boeing jets in 2012, and an initial order for 20 planes could eventually rise to as many as 100. "[A]s it exists today," Southwest's domestic route network could support at least 50 737-800s, said CEO Gary Kelly, and the company would like to add more distant destinations such as Hawaii, Alaska and the Caribbean.
Website Editor: Southwest Air, John Wayne Airport's highest volume carrier, uses 737-700's. 737-800's flown by other airlines at JWA are noisier than the 737-700's flown by those carriers.
ATA Reports 12th Consecutive Month of Revenue Growth - Air Transport Association
2010 First Year since 2006 Where Spending Rose Every Month
The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, today reported that passenger revenue, based on a sample group of carriers,rose 9 percent in December 2010 compared to the same month in 2009, marking the 12th consecutive month of revenue growth. Miles flown by paying passengers rose 3 percent while the average price to fly one mile rose 6 percent. Passenger revenue1 improved 6 percent domestically and 16 percent in international markets, led by a 32 percent jump in spending on trans-Pacific and intra-Asia travel.
“These revenue results reflect ongoing strengthening in demand for travel by air as we enter 2011,” said ATA Vice President and Chief Economist John Heimlich. “International markets continue to lead the way for growth in both passenger and cargo transportation.”
A sample of U.S. airlines saw cargo traffic, as measured in cargo revenue ton miles, rise 4 percent year over year (down 1 percent domestically but up 8 percent internationally) in November 2010. December 2010 cargo data is not yet available.
Bob Hope Airport saw another drop in passenger traffic in 2010 - LA Times
The number of passengers who used Bob Hope Airport continued to drop last year, but the rate of decline was less sharp than in 2009.
From January 2010 through November, about 4.1 million passengers traveled through Bob Hope Airport — a 2.6% drop from 2009, according to a report to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.
Passenger numbers in 2009 were the lowest in eight years, falling from 5.3 million in 2008 to 4.6 million. The volume of passengers peaked at more than 5.9 million in 2007.
JWA posts down December, down year and projects more to come - El Toro Info Site report
John Wayne Airport reported December passenger traffic of 718,571 travelers. This is a 2.1% decrease from last December and continues a string of 7 consecutive down months.
For the calendar year, JWA served 8,663,452 passengers, down from 8,705,199 in 2009 with most of the decrease occurring in recent months..
As reported below, the sum of the seat allocations requested by all of JWA's air carriers points to another down year in 2011.
This does not bode well as the County continues work on a costly new third terminal that exceeds the combined Long Beach and Burbank airports in size.
Opponents of full utilization of this expanded capacity may cite the current low traffic as a basis for seeking low passenger caps when negotiations start this year regarding future passenger growth.
January 10 - January 16, 2011
US Airlines October Passenger Count Up 5.6%, Most In Three Years - DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
U.S. airlines carried 5.6% more passengers in October than a year earlier, the largest such increase in more than three years, the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said Thursday.
The number of fliers has increased from prior-year levels every month since February but the latest reported gain was the biggest since August 2007. Meanwhile, airlines have reported continued increases in load factor--a measure of plane fullness--amid a recovery from last year's sharp drop in air travel demand.
Website Editor: In the Southern California region, October traffic was up 4.8% over the prior year, primarily due to increased numbers of passengers at LAX. Long Beach airport also posted a small increase. John Wayne Airport, LA/Ontario and Burbank were down in October compared to the prior year.
Chamber Meeting Stresses Importance of [John Wayne] Airport Agreement - Coronadelmar.patch
The meeting focused on the possibility of extending the city's current agreement with the county regarding John Wayne Airport.
An agreement covering what’s allowed and what’s not — including passenger numbers and building sizes — at John Wayne Airport was the main item discussed Thursday at the Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce government affairs committee meeting.
Attorney Barbara Lichman, who represents the Airport Working Group, a nonprofit devoted to airport issues, talked to the committee about negotiations to extend the deal between Newport Beach and Orange County.
No timetable is set, but participants said the end of the first quarter is a possible starting point for talks on extending the current agreement. It must be extended, Lichman said, because otherwise, under Federal Law, the Federal Aviation Administration would be able to set the terms of operation at JWA.
“Without the extension, the airport could grow.” “We’d like this to run for as long as we could can get it,” Lichman said.
The agreement applies to how many gates JWA can have, how large the terminal can be, when planes can land and depart and how many passengers annually the airport can serve. Currently it can have 16 gates, 340,000 square feet of space, departures between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., arrivals from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. and 10.8 million passengers a year.
One interesting aspect of the agreement is that limiting the number of gates effectively limits the size of the terminal, because there’s no economic reason for a bigger terminal if you can only have 16 gates.
“That’s a major point of contention,” said Tom Edwards, a former Newport Beach mayor and now a consultant to the airport negotiations.
So now the city is waiting to hear from the county on when they are ready to begin negotiations on the extension. City Attorney David R. Hunt said there is no timetable for this to happen, but the parties with an interest in the result are ready.
The previous extension, put together between 2003 and 2005, took 18 months, said Robert Hawkins, of the Airport Working Group.
This included the FAA’s participation, which is effectively needed for any deal.
LAX concession conflict brings leadership change - Daily Breeze
Attorney Michael Lawson on Monday was named the new president of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, replacing Alan Rothenberg, who resigned because of indirect ties with a longtime concessionaire at LAX.
Rothenberg stepped down last month as board president because he sits on the board of directors of California Pizza Kitchen and owns more than $1 million worth of stock with the company, which has several restaurants at LAX that are operated by HMS Host International.
Rothenberg's perceived conflict prevented the entire airport commission last year from voting on any contracts involving HMS Host.
California airport opens to WestJet, but takeoff on hold - Calgary Herald
WestJet has received approval to fly into Orange County's John Wayne Airport this spring, but isn't discussing specific plans for any new southern California flights.
New routes and the summer schedule will be released later this month, a spokeswoman said in an e-mail, but she wouldn't directly comment on the John Wayne approval or any plans stemming from that.
The Orange County board of supervisors approved WestJet's application Tuesday and the airline could now begin lease and operating negotiations with the airport.
WestJet earlier passed a noise qualification test, necessary because the airport is close to nearby communities.
Any flights wouldn't start before April.
Current airport vendors to stay - Daily Pilot
County Board of Supervisors counter staff recommendation by voting in favor of keeping HMSHost Corp.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to keep the current concessionaire at John Wayne Airport, but with new, locally owned restaurants like Ruby's Diner and Zov's Bistro.
The decision locks in bars, restaurants and snack shops at JWA for the next 10 years — both in the existing terminal, and in the under-construction Terminal C.
Countering an airport staff recommendation, the supervisors chose HMSHost Corp. of Maryland over its competitor, Delaware North Cos. of New York. Board members cited their preference of HMS Host's local restaurants and its higher rent — $39 million over the 10 years compared with its competitor's proposal of $34 million.
Website Editor: Now, please lets get back to the issue of how we utilize JWA's expanding facilities to fly to more destinations so we don't have to use LAX or Long Beach and eat there.
January 3 - January 9, 2011
Privatizing LA/Ontario - Aviation
Week
The Los Angeles World Airports (LAW) is looking for information from
private
investors that will help the City of Los Angeles to determine a future
for
LA/Ontario Airport. One of the triggers of this LAWA move must be
the
request by the City of Ontario last September that "local control be
restored" to LA/Ontario.
The deadline for responses to LAWA from the private sector is
Feb.
28.
LAWA seeks operator for LA/Ontario Airport - The
Moodie Report
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA)
has issued a Request for Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the
management and
operation of LA/Ontario International Airport, located 35 miles east of
downtown Los Angeles.
LAWA, the City department that owns and operates LA/Ontario, said it
was
seeking “to increase the competitiveness and efficiency of the airport
and is,
therefore, evaluating the feasibility of and options for contracting
management
and operation of La/Ontario through a long-term lease and management
agreement.”
The EOI process does not trigger a binding competitive process, it
noted. The
City of Los Angeles and LAWA will also retain full ownership interest
in
LA/Ontario.
Through the EOI submissions, interested parties are encouraged to
provide
comments and ideas regarding how LAWA can best meet the following
objectives:
(1) Return LA/Ontario to pre-2008 passenger traffic
trends and increase its share of air traffic in the Los Angeles region;
(2) Cost effectively market the airport to airlines, passengers and air
cargo
companies;
(3) Operate the airport more efficiently; and
(4) Balance the short-term improvement initiatives currently under way
at the
airport while maintaining its long-term capacity for growth.
Safety issue resurfaces at Bob
Hope - Glendale News-Press
Inspectors looking into near crash in April bring up terminal's
proximity to
the runway.
A draft report from the Federal Aviation Administration has bared the
long-standing safety issue of Bob Hope Airport's passenger terminal and
its
proximity to the runway.
Federal aviation officials have long held that the terminal is too
close to the
runway, a finding that in 1986 prompted the agency to prohibit planes
from
taking off to the east. An airport spokesman said planes taking off to
the west
are safely airborne well before they near the terminal.
But the latest iteration of the proximity issue came after an incident
in April
in which two planes flew dangerously close to each other above the
airfield.
The study is unrelated to the near crash, which the FAA determined an
air
traffic controller error caused. But airport spokesman Victor Gill said
the
inquiry into runway safety grew out of concerns of FAA inspectors who
were at
the airport for the probe into the April incident.
In a draft report delivered to airport officials, the agency is seeking
several
safety upgrades at the airport while rehashing the controversial option
of
relocating the airport terminal so it is farther from the runways. The
report
determined that "the airport passenger terminal location presents
significant risks and compromises airport design safety standards."
Officials with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority say the
airport
is making the modest adjustments sought by the FAA, including
relocation of a
weather sensor near runways, and working with a private-property owner
to
remove a nearby windmill. They will bolster so-called blast walls that
redirect
exhaust from jet aircraft.
But Gill said the concerns about the location of the terminal are
nearly as old
as the airport authority and cannot quickly be resolved.
Much Ado about small potatoes at JWA - El Toro Info Site
The discourse over which firm should get the contract to oversee concessions at John Wayne Airport is much ado over relatively small potatoes. (See Airport food on supervisors' menu.)
One firm bid $3.4 million dollars a year for ten years and another bid 3.9 million. The half million dollar difference is less than 1/2 of 1 percent of the airport's operating budget.
In 2009, John Wayne had operating revenue of 108 million dollars. Most of it came from travelers, with parking being the biggest item and what they spend at the airport being another. A substantial chunk of revenue came from the airlines renting counter and other space and paying landing fees.
In addition, the airport took in almost $17 million in Passenger Facilities Fees, the $4.50 fee tacked onto our ticket prices to pay for the new third terminal.
So while the $1/2 million per year difference between the two competitors for running the concessions is not peanuts, it is small potatoes next to what the airport could gain by attracting more airlines, more flights to new destinations and more travelers who are using Long Beach Airport and LAX to get to where they want to go. That subject has hardly been discussed.
JWA forecasts continued slump in 2011 - El Toro Info Site
John Wayne Airport Director Alan Murphy has submitted recommendations to the Orange County Board of Supervisors that point to a down year ahead for the airport. This comes as the County continues a major expansion of JWA.
Annually, airlines submit their requests for seat allocations at John Wayne. While the carriers' requests have been cut in prior years, to stay comfortably under the passenger caps negotiated between the County and Newport Beach, for 2011 the airlines are getting all the allocations they want. The requested allocations do not add up to enough passenger traffic to fill the existing terminals let alone the new third terminal.
For the 9 months from April 1 through December 31, 2011, the carriers requested a total of 8,947,214 seats including the 166,460 passengers requested by JWA's one remaining commuter airline.
In the past year, approximately 70 percent of the allocated seats were actually used by passengers due to reductions in flight schedules and the failure to fill every seat on planes.
Therefore, the airlines' request for permission to fly 8,947,214 seats is likely to result in about 6.2 to 6.3 million passengers.
By comparison, the airport served 7.6 million passengers in the same period in its best year, 2007, 6.8 million passengers during the same nine months of 2009, and we estimate that the airport will see a drop to about 6.6 to 6.7 million passengers in the same period in 2010. 6.2 to 6.3 million in 2011 is a continuation of JWA's slump.
For the full calendar year, the airline forecasts lead us to expect JWA to see between 8.2 and 8.3 million passengers. The agreement between the County and Newport Beach allows 10.8 MAP (million annual passengers).
The airport's projections include service by Canadian carrier WestJet which is not expected to start operations at JWA until May 1.
$10 million to sweeten JWA concessions food fight - OC Register
Its an all out food fight over who will feed the nearly 9 million passengers who fly in and out of John Wayne Airport each year. And its getting uglier and uglier.
One of the bidders – the bidder on the losing end of the Airport Commission’s vote - wants to throw in $10 million to sweeten their deal. The change of heart –and dollars - comes just weeks before the county’s Board of Supervisors is supposed to make the final call on who will get the multi-million dollar contract.
Delaware North’s revamped contract comes in at $34 million, $5 million short of the $39 million HMS Host is guaranteeing.
Website Editor: - Meanwhile, with most attention turned to the airport's food concessions, the waiting list of airlines seeking to transport OC's well-fed travelers to new destinations is shrinking. What are airports for?
December 27 - January 2, 2011
LAX traffic continues to show recovery, lead the region
LAX passenger traffic for November was 5.9 percent ahead of November 2009. For the year-to-date, the airport volume was up by 4.5 percent.
We project that for the full year 2010, LAX will lead the region to an overall gain in air travel, despite decreased volume at other local airports with the likely exception of Long Beach.
Delaware North Says its Offer for John Wayne Airport Food Contract Won't Rip Off Consumers, Like Rival Bid - OC Weekly
Last month, the county's Airport Commission unanimously recommended that the Supes go with HMSHost--which currently has the contract that currently curses passengers with such bad food-- on January 11, when the issue is up for a vote. But rival Delaware North isn't taking that recommendation kindly.
In a Dec. 21 letter to the Board, Delaware North president Matthew R. King disclosed his company is willing to up its bid, from $24 million per year for the right to rent the concession stands, to $34 million, an offer that still falls short of HMSHost's $39 million proposal. King offered a novel argument to try and convince the supes to give his company the contract: that his rival's higher promise of rent means HMSHost will likely increase prices at restaurants to make up the cost.
"The JWA terminal is a phenomenal asset and traveling experience," King wrote. "It seems to be lost in the discussion that these very customers will be paying the loft rent promised by Host. This is a flawed business model, and will surely result in an increase in customer complaints."
JWA vendor hopeful raises its offering price - Daily Pilot
The company looking to unseat the main concessionaire at John Wayne Airport has offered the airport $10 million more in rent compared with its first proposal.
Delaware North Cos. of New York is hoping to sway the Orange County Board of Supervisors, which will decide on Jan. 11 which company controls the county-owned airport's restaurants, cocktail lounges and snack shops.
At stake is the right to sublease about 28,000 square feet of commercial space in the main terminal and in the under-construction Terminal C. After 20 years with the same concessionaire and an expiring contract, the airport sought proposals for new restaurant concepts and new revenue projections.
Delaware North last week increased the minimum amount it would agree to pay the county over 10 years from $24 to $34 million.
Current concessionaire HMSHost Corporation of Maryland offered the county $39 million, and the Airport Commission voted unanimously Dec. 15 to recommend the county stay with HMSHost.
Website Editor: The focus continues on concessions and food service at the expanding JWA. Meanwhile, there is little discussion regarding filling the added 282,000 square feet of terminal with new air service.
