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Week of February 22 - February 28, 2010

JWA flight path to change, may ease noise
- OC Register
 
A change in the flight path of departures from John Wayne Airport is in the works and could address noise complaints from residents, officials said Friday.

The Federal Aviation Administration last year switched to satellite flight guidance, and though the move was intended to steer planes on a central course above the Back Bay, some locals said aircraft actually moved east, above homes.

The FAA is proposing an altered path that agency spokesman Ian Gregor called a “fine-tuning” that will be implemented in April and “push departures more toward the middle of the Back Bay.”




L.A. Council tentatively approves phasing out noiser jets at Van Nuys Airport - LA Daily News

The Los Angeles City Council tentatively approved an ordinance to phase out noisier jets at Van Nuys Airport over a seven-year period.
If it passes on second reading a week from today, the ordinance setting limits on how loud a jet can be during takeoff would take effect 30 days later.

Once it took effect, jets with takeoff noise levels equal or exceeding 85A-weighted decibels (dBA) would immediately be barred from Van Nuys Airport, and the ban would be expanded two years later to include aircraft hitting 83 dBA. [Eventually] "no aircraft may arrive or depart Van Nuys Airport whose takeoff noise level equals or exceeds 77 dBA."

The noisier jets -- also called Stage 2 aircraft -- would likely be diverted to five other airports: LAX, Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, the Camarillo and Chino airports and General Fox Airfield.



LAX rebounds in January; ONT flat

Passenger volume at Los Angeles International Airport was up in January by 8 percent over the same month last year.

LA/Ontario Airport traffic which has plummeted in recent year, came in only 0.1 percent below January 2009.



Regional flights fewer at JWA
- Daily Pilot

When Virgin America started flying its stylish jets from John Wayne Airport to San Francisco, some of the no-frills commuter planes operating at JWA just couldn’t compete.

American Eagle canceled its flights to the Bay Area in November, and JWA has seen its commuter flights — the regional hops on planes with fewer than 70 passengers — drop by half.

For almost 10 years, the number of regional flights at JWA averaged between 9,265 and 16,255 per year. Now, 2010 is on track to have 4,800 regional flights per year.

Website Editor: That averages to just over 13 flights per day.  Meanwhile the county's "airport improvement program" is adding facilities for these smaller planes. The construction project provides dedicated facilities for six commuter aircraft at ground level .



Groundbreaking set Monday on $1.55B LAX renovation
- Contra Costa Times

The most-expensive building project in Los Angeles municipal history will break ground Monday, when construction starts on the $1.55 billion Bradley West Terminal project at Los Angeles International Airport.

A superjumbo Airbus A380 jet from Qantas Airlines will be parked behind dignitaries as speeches are made on the airport tarmac.

The mammoth project will add 1.25 million square feet of building area to the Bradley International Terminal, which was completed for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic games. The existing building will be gutted in two phases, and a new concourse will be built to the west, on the land currently occupied by the twin taxiways between the northern and southern sets of runways.


FAA, Los Angeles Clash Over Airport - WSJ

The latest push to cut the risk of planes colliding on the ground at Los Angeles International Airport appears headed for the scrap heap, after turbulence from local politicians and neighborhood groups.

The failure shows again the on-the-ground challenges facing aging airports hemmed in by development as they seek to improve safety.

The Federal Aviation Administration has for years called on the Southern California airport to reconfigure its two northern runways to keep airliners from blundering onto the wrong strip.

But on Friday, a report commissioned by the city from outside experts determined that it isn't necessary to relocate one of the runways, as the FAA wants.



Week of February 15 - February 21, 2010

LAX's north runways are safe and should stay as they are, NASA panel says
- LA Times

A NASA panel says the north runways at Los Angeles International Airport are safe and should remain in their current configuration, according to a report released Friday.

The panel said that while other proposals -- including widening the distance between the two north runways -- might make the airport runways safer, "the risk is so low, reducing that risk by a substantial percentage is of limited practical importance.”

Nearby residents had been concerned about the report, fearing it would persuade elected officials to push a runway and surrounding airport land into their neighborhoods.



Airport users rank LAX low, JWA and BUR average

Although technology has revolutionized air travel during the past decade, passenger satisfaction with airports continues to lag behind that of other aspects of the travel industry, largely because passenger expectations of basic needs - such as prompt baggage delivery, airport comfort and ease of navigating the airport - are not being met consistently, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 North America Airport Satisfaction Study released this week.

The study measures overall airport satisfaction in three segments: large (30 million or more passengers per year), medium (10 million to 30 million passengers per year) and small (fewer than 10 million passengers per year). Six factors - assessed through 27 specific attributes - are examined to determine overall customer satisfaction: airport accessibility; baggage claim; check in - baggage check process; terminal facilities; security check; and food and retail services.

LAX ranked next to the bottom in the large airport category, just ahead of Newark. Detroit topped the list.

In the small airport category, both Burbank and Orange County were rated average and ranked near the middle of the list.



Airport commission approves more runway safety lights - Daily Breeze

More stoplights will be installed along 10 high-speed taxiways and one runway to improve safety at Los Angeles International Airport under a deal approved Tuesday by the airport commission.

The Federal Aviation Administration will design, maintain and pay for the entire light system, which will warn pilots when it's safe to enter or cross a runway, airport officials said.

Construction is expected to begin in October and the new system will be operating by February 2012.




Southwest jet avoids collision with smaller plane
- LA Times

Two Southwest Airlines flight attendants were injured when their aircraft had to make an emergency maneuver to avoid a potential collision with a small private plane as the airliner approached Bob Hope Airport, according to preliminary information released Tuesday by federal authorities.

Southwest Airlines Flight 2534 was flying at 6,000 feet Saturday, about 20 miles from Bob Hope Airport, when an alert sounded in the cockpit, warning that the Boeing 737 was on a possible collision course with the other plane that was roughly two miles away, the Federal Aviation Administration said.



Week of February 8 - February 14, 2010

Jet Blue marks 10th anniversary - Press-Telegram

What began 10 years ago as a modest venture into the rough-and-tumble world of air travel has morphed into one of the [Long Beach] city's top success stories of the past decade.

JetBlue Airways marked 10 years of international travel Friday with a celebration at Long Beach Airport, its West Coast base, where the carrier served some 2.3 million passengers in the past year.



High-speed rail system: Leaders mull benefits, fears -
Burbank Leader
 
A planned $40-billion, intrastate high-speed rail system may bring a surge of jobs and new development along the Burbank-Glendale part of the route, but city officials say they are leery of the potential impacts.

Existing rail corridors would have to be expanded, cutting into surrounding properties and infrastructure; raised tracks would have to be built to avoid clashing with road crossings; Glendale’s historic train station would have to be moved to accommodate a closer railroad right-of-way; Bob Hope Airport could be isolated from the line; and Burbank’s Metrolink station could be relocated, altering city plans crafted around the current site.

And despite an emphasis on connecting commuters to high-speed public transit, the trains would zip past Bob Hope Airport, leaving it isolated from riders who might want to use the rail line to travel from other parts of California and catch flights.

Area leaders and stakeholders have frequently raised concerns about that aspect of the proposed path, asking that it instead be diverted from the San Fernando Road corridor to connect with the airport, but rail representatives have contended the detour would slow the system down.




LA letter hints at private operator for ONT
-- Daily Bulletin

Ontario City Councilman Alan Wapner has expressed alarm over the possibility of a private operator running LA/Ontario International Airport.
 
The Los Angeles City Council recently issued a letter giving its city staff the option of bringing in a private operator to manage LA/ONT.

The letter was given to the Los Angeles city administrative officer to be used as a guide to help reduce the city's budget deficit.

Wapner said he learned about the option only after reading about it in newspapers.

"Ontario should be a part of the discussions, we deserve that," Wapner said.

Los Angeles city officials did not return calls for comment.




JWA starts new year with pickup in volume


John Wayne Airport served 651,224 passengers in January.  That topped traffic for the same month in 2009 by 9.9 percent.



Week of February 1- February 7, 2010

Two New Airlines Join Long Beach Airport
- Long Beach News

Frontier Airlines and Allegiant Air will both begin providing flights from Long Beach Airport later this year. Frontier will being providing non-stop flights from Long Beach to Denver this May, while Allegiant will begin providing flights sometime around August 2010.

In addition to the two new airlines, two airlines that already operate at the Long Beach Airport also requested additional flight slots. Delta Airlines and JetBlue Airlines each received one new flight slot. Cumulatively, the four airlines increased the airport to its allowable limit of 41 daily flights.

“LGB’s vision is to deliver above our customer’s expectations,” said Mario Rodriguez, Long Beach Airport Director. “To that end, the airport is pleased to announce that our customers, our community, tourists and travelers alike, will be able to enjoy more destinations.”




2009 air traffic summary

Airport
2009 passengers
Percent change from 2008 *
LAX
56,520,843
-5.2
SNA
8,705,198 -3.2
BUR
4,588,433 -13.9
ONT
4,886,695 -21.6
LGB
2,909,307 -0.2
PSP
1,465,751 -5.0
SCAG Region total
79,076,227
-6.8
SAN
16,778,666
-16.3
SoCal total
95,854,893
-6.7

* Note: Year to year comparisons may be inexact because some airports revise prior year numbers after their initial publication.




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