Nonstop Service Between San Diego and Miami to Begin This Summer
American Airlines announced today that it will launch new service between San Diego International Airport and Miami International Airport this summer.
It has been more than 20 years since there has been nonstop service between San Diego and Miami; American Airlines served this route briefly from 1992 - 1993.
"We are so pleased that American Airlines will create a bridge between San Diego and Miami," said Thella F. Bowens, President/CEO of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. "Until today, Miami was San Diego's largest market without direct service from San Diego, and it's great to know that San Diegans will once again have direct access to one of Florida's key cities."
This flight will be operated with a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 150 seats.
February 18 - February 24, 2013
John Wayne Airport has best January in 5 years - OC Register
John Wayne Airport saw passenger traffic jump 9.7 percent in January, the airport's best beginning to a year since 2008.
Airport officials reported that 698,237 passengers went through the gates last month, up from 636,573 a year ago. In January 2008, a little more than 707,000 travelers used the Orange County airport in what marked the beginning of a four-year decline in passengers as the recession took hold.
John Wayne Airport got a boost in international traffic in June when AirTran, a subsidiary of Southwest Airlines, launched daily flights to Mexico City and Cabo San Lucas. In October, Interjet, the Mexican carrier, started daily service to Mexico City and Guadalajara.
About half of John Wayne's additional 61,000 passengers last month can be attributed to international travel, which was up more than 400 percent over January 2012. This time last year, the only international service John Wayne had was a daily WestJet flight to Vancouver, Canada.
JWA starts new year with volume up
Airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport increased in January 2013 as compared to January 2012. In January 2013, the Airport served 698,237 passengers, an increase of 9.7% when compared to the 636,573 passenger traffic count of January 2012.
Commercial aircraft operations increased 6.8%, while Commuter aircraft operations decreased 25.3% when compared to the levels recorded in January 2012.
February 11 - February 17, 2013
Airline merger can only help at JWA, economist says - OC Register
American Airlines and US Airways representatives said they see no immediate changes.
The merger of American Airlines and US Airways sent ripples through the travel industry Thursday, but no immediate changes in local service are expected.
John Wayne Airport officials have had no discussions with either airline about possible service or route changes, said Jenny Wedge airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge.
American offers 12 daily departures from Orange County to Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. US Airways has seven daily departures to Phoenix from John Wayne, according to Liz Landaw, a US Airways spokeswoman.
Jan Brueckner, a UCI economist and expert on the airline industry, said the merger may be good news for Orange County travelers.
He said there is little likelihood American will reduce service at the airport because John Wayne limits the number of daily commercial flights, and the airline's jets already are flying full. Website Editor: If flights are still limited, what did the County gain by adding a huge third terminal?
"As an American frequent flier, I can almost never get an upgrade out of Orange County," he said. "Having more American opportunities out of this county would be great."
This alternative view appeared in the Dallas Morning News:
<>Airport operations expert Ahmed Abdelghany said the first year or two will just add some departures to US Airways' East Coast markets and hubs.
"The impact in the long term will depend on how the new airline will adjust their network to eliminate competition between hubs," said Abdelghany, associate professor of operations management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Phoenix, a US Airways hub, is vulnerable because it's so close to D/FW, he said.
"It is most likely that Phoenix will be eliminated as a major hub and considerable operations will be shifted from Phoenix to D/FW."
February 4 - February 10, 2013
San Francisco airport sets new yearly passenger record with 44.5 million travelers - San Francisco Business Times
Traffic at San Francisco's airport hit a new record in 2012 with 44.5 million people passing through the facility.
This surpasses the previous record of 41 million passengers set in 2011 and represents an 8.5 percent increase in traffic year-over-year.
SFO's mushrooming traffic is a favorable sign for the regional economy, given the Bay Area's strong business ties to Asia, Europe and elsewhere.
Another knock on regionalization try - San Bernardino Sun
Even Los Angeles County's top administrator has joined the chorus saying Los Angeles World Airports has not done enough to regionalize Southern California air traffic - to the detriment of L.A./Ontario International Airport.
William Fujioka, chief executive of L.A. County, says LAWA has not complied with provisions of a 2006 court settlement of lawsuits that had been brought against expansion plans for Los Angeles International Airport.
Los Angeles' Board of Airport Commissioners was scheduled to vote on proposals to modernize LAX that include moving a runway closer to neighborhoods in Westchester and Playa del Rey where residents have long opposed LAX expansion plans that they say will increase traffic, noise and air pollution. A report that Fujioka commissioned was submitted as part of the review process for those plans.
The 2006 settlement required LAWA, a department of Los Angeles city government, to push some air traffic from LAX out to the region's smaller airports, including ONT. But LAWA has failed to fulfill those requirements, making only "token efforts to fulfill the regionalization efforts required in the settlement," Fujioka wrote in his comments.
The county report says that a number of LAWA initiatives to achieve regionalization were short-lived and got nowhere - citing the agency's failure to form a working group of local government agencies to work on redistribution plans; the group met once and was disbanded.
Regionalization fervor has cooled. Occasional proposals popped up, like one to make ONT the airport of choice for Disneyland visitors, but then faded away.
Traffic at all airports was hurt by the recession, but ONT's continues to decline while LAX's is coming back. The latest figures, out last week, showed that 4.3 million passengers traveled through ONT in 2012 - a 40 percent decline from the peak of 7.2 million in 2007.
Bob Hope Airport numbers experience turbulence - Burbank Leader
For the first time in at least five years, the number of passengers using Bob Hope Airport declined during the important November-December holiday travel season, according to data released this week.
Looking at a year-to-year comparison, the passenger tally in December dropped by almost 8% compared to the year before, adding to a steady decline that plagued the airfield throughout last year.
John Hatanaka, the airport's senior deputy executive director, said the year-to-year decline wasn't limited to Bob Hope Airport.
“December was bad for all airports except Los Angeles [International Airport],” Hatanaka said. “It really is a lack of demand for the travel services.”
Ontario Airport reported a 7.3% decrease in passengers in December, and Long Beach Airport saw an 8.3% drop. Meanwhile, John Wayne Airport saw a 5.5% increase due to stepped-up travel to Mexico, according to Hatanaka.
For the year as a whole, roughly 4.1 million passengers traveled through the airport, a 5.7% decrease from 4.3 million in 2011.
Hatanaka said 2013 might bring more of the same, as industry forecasts project a 3% decrease in demand nationwide for domestic flights.
January 28 - February 3, 2013
John Wayne Airport shows pickup in 2012 volume
John Wayne Airport announced results of its 2012 passenger travel. JWA served more than 8.85 million passengers in 2012 which represents an increase of 2.9% compared to 2011.
"The addition of service to three new destinations in Mexico by AirTran and Interjet helped contribute to this growth," said Alan L. Murphy. "The overall increase in passengers, however, reflects both the new international service and improvements in the general domestic travel market."
For the month of December 2012, airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport increased compared to December 2011. In December 2012, the Airport served 735,626 passengers, an increase of 5.5% when compared to the 697,512 passenger traffic count of December 2011.
The airport's best year was 2007 when it served 9,979,699 passengers.
John Wayne Airport
Monthly Airport Statistics
- December 2012
|
|
December |
December |
%
Change |
Year-to-Date |
Year-to-Date |
%
Change |
||||
|
Total passengers |
735,626 |
697,512 |
5.5% |
8,857,944 |
8,609,008 |
2.9% |
||||
|
Enplaned |
365,639 |
344,588 |
6.1% |
4,417,599 |
4,287,955 |
3.0% |
||||
|
Deplaned |
369,987 |
352,924 |
4.8% |
4,440,345 |
4,321,053 |
2.8% |
||||
|
Air Cargo Tons1 |
1,630 |
1,393 |
17.0% |
17,870 |
15,569 |
14.8% |
||||
|
Total Aircraft Operations |
19,139 |
18,593 |
2.9% |
255,688 |
252,943 |
1.1% |
||||
|
General Aviation |
12,135 |
11,791 |
2.9% |
171,873 |
169,870 |
1.2% |
||||
|
Commercial Aircraft |
6,781 |
6,548 |
3.6% |
80,691 |
79,658 |
1.3% |
||||
|
Commuter2 |
188 |
221 |
-14.9% |
2,631 |
3,188 |
-17.5% |
||||
|
Military Operations |
35 |
33 |
6.1% |
493 |
227 |
117.2% |
||||
|
||||||||||
LAX officials release final EIR on airport modernization, including runway plan - The Torrance Daily Breeze
An ambitious modernization plan at Los Angeles International Airport took another major step forward on Friday with officials releasing a final environmental impact report.
The nearly 2,000 page report focuses on two sets of plans favored by LAX executives - one to separate two runways on the north side of the field by 260 feet and another to improve ground facilities by constructing a consolidated rental car facility and building a people mover that would shuttle passengers around the airport. Plans also call, eventually, for a Metro station on or near the airport, and at least one new terminal.
For the projects to go forward, state law requires officials to assess their environmental impacts.
Los Angeles World Airports officials say the final draft is similar to an earlier one released in July. But at that point, airport staff had not issued their recommendations of which modernization plans they preferred. At the time, they had been considering plans to separate the runways by as little as 100 feet and as much as 350 feet. (Airport officials say moving the runways apart would limit dangerous so-called runway incursions between airplanes on the ground, though many nearby residents, concerned that landing will take place even closer to homes and businesses, say the project is not necessary).
Residents may comment on the modernization plans on Jan. 31 at 9:30 a.m. during a special meeting of the Board of Airport Commissioners. The commissioners may vote on the projects as soon as Feb. 5, though other groups, including the Federal Aviation Administration and Los Angeles City Council, would still need to approve them.
ONTARIO: No quick fix for airport - Riverside Press Enterprise
Los Angeles Councilman Bill Rosendahl suggested linking ONT to downtown LA by Metrolink to increase the number of flights.
Rosendahl told [a reporter] he envisions jumbo jets carrying international passengers making ONT the gateway to Southern California. It would relieve congestion at LAX, pleasing his constituents who live near LAX.
Rosendahl said he has long favored spreading air traffic across Southern California rather than concentrating it at LAX.
If travelers could easily get into LA from ONT, Rosendahl says, airlines would jump at the chance to use the less-busy airport.
With a Metrolink stop a stone's throw from ONT, he figures getting air passengers from ONT to the Metrolink station and into downtown LA is a no-brainer. It's a 20- to 30-minute trip, he said.
The trip from Ontario to LA Union Station takes 45-60 minutes, a Metrolink spokesman said.
