NEWS BLOG - LATEST
HEADLINES
February 23 - March 1, 2015
Loretta Sanchez's bill wants John Wayne Airport to be 'port of
entry' to attract international travel -
OC Register
A House bill introduced this week would ease airline costs for
international flights into John Wayne Airport and could attract more
such flights to the county.
The measure calls for the airport to be declared a “port of entry.”
Currently, airlines there must reimburse U.S. Customs and Border
Protection for the cost of checking travelers from abroad, but there is
no such charge to carriers at official ports of entry.
Courtney Wiercioch, a deputy airport director, said Interjet’s decision
to leave John Wayne last year was due in part to the customs fees.
“Other international carriers have said that it’s a hindrance to them
flying here as well,” she said.
Passengers arriving in the U.S. from abroad already pay a $17.50 fee to
customs, regardless of the airport. Additionally, customs charged John
Wayne carriers $1.4 million in 2014 to service the 277,000 passengers
arriving on international flights.
Airports must have at least 15,000 annual international passengers to
qualify to port of entry status.
Website Editor: Long Beach
Airport is considering adding customs facilities at the request of
JetBlue. See article below.
JWA posts January results; more passengers with fewer flights
Airline
passenger traffic at John Wayne
Airport increased in January 2015 as compared to January 2014. In
January
2015, the Airport served 736,666 passengers, an increase of 2.5% when
compared
to the January 2014 passenger traffic count of 718,549.
Commercial
aircraft operations decreased
1.7%, while commuter aircraft operations decreased 4.4% when compared
to
January 2014 levels.
JetBlue requests Long Beach Airport add U.S. Customs facility
for international flights -
Long Beach Press-Telegram
JetBlue on Monday formally requested Long Beach Airport apply for a
federal customs facility, a move that would allow international travel
at the city-owned airport.
In a letter sent to Airport Director Bryant Francis, Robert C. Land,
JetBlue senior vice president for Government Affairs and associate
general counsel, stated the airline has no interest in modifying the
city’s airport noise ordinance.
“JetBlue will utilize only its current allotment of assigned Air
Carrier slots and existing aircraft parking positions to fly
internationally in addition to our current 11 domestic markets,” Land
wrote.
February 16 - February 22, 2015
JWA will see more Southwest flights but not more non-stop cities
More nonstop flights are
taking off from John Wayne airport. Travelers will be able to fly on
Southwest Airlines to
Seattle (SEA)
and Chicago (MDW)
(the only new airport served) beginning June 28, and to Portland
(PDX) beginning August 9, 2015. Non-stop flights are
currently available to Chicago's OHare airport.
Southwest also announced its
plans to increase the number of daily, nonstop departures between John
Wayne
Airport and Dallas-Love
Field (DAL) and Denver
(DEN) effective August 2015.
As previously announced, the
airline plans to inaugurate daily service to Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico (PVR) on June
7, 2015, subject to governmental approvals and to Austin (AUS)
on June
28, 2015.
Travelers
wanting direct service to Washington, DC, New York's Kennedy airport,
or Hawaii will have to drive out of Orange County or wait and hope.
No Change of Plans for Airport Noise Ordinance After Special Study
Session - Long Beach Post
A two hour study session held to analyze the current noise ordinance in
effect at the Long Beach Airport served as little more than a history
lesson, as city council and residents discussed the merits of the noise
ordinance and an overwhelming reluctance to modify it in the future.
Assistant City Attorney Michael Mais and City Prosecutor Doug Haubert
navigated through a nearly 50
slides in a presentation which documented the litigious history of
the city’s Airport Noise Compatibility Ordinance (ANCO), which has
remained untouched since its adoption in 1995.
A large part of the reason that it has remained intact is the federal
Airport Noise and Capacity Act (ANCA) of 1990, which was passed while
ANCO was being processed by an appellate court in California. Long
Beach was granted an exemption to keep their ordinance, which pre-dated
the federal legislation, with the understanding that any amendments
made to it could result in forfeiture of local airport noise governance.
“Since that federal law was enacted in 1990, no other airport in the
country has been successful in being able to impose these types of
restrictions that we currently have at our airport with flight caps and
curfews,” Mais said. “There are probably only about five or six
airports that share what we have as far as being exempt from ANCA.”
Website Editor: John Wayne
Airport has similar restrictions. Bob Hope Airport applied for
but failed to obtain approval for a curfew.
January 26, 2015 - February 1, 2015
JWA Director to Step Down -
OC Business Journal
The Orange County Board of Supervisors will meet in closed session to
plan the search for a successor to John Wayne Airport Director Alan
Murphy, who will step down from the post on Feb. 5.
Murphy has worked for Orange County for 32 years, including 28 years
with the airport, the last 15 as its director.
It will be the second high-level vacancy at JWA. Former Assistant
Airport Director Loan Leblow retired about a year ago and the position
wasn’t filled, though a recruitment is underway, airport spokesperson
Jenny Wedge said.
The airport spokesperson said said Murphy, 57, planned to pursue
personal projects and “do a little traveling,” and doesn’t rule out a
new job sometime in the future.
JWA finishes with an improved year
John Wayne Airport served
1.7% more passengers in 2014 than it did in the previous year.
The 9,386,033 passengers fell 6% below the airports record volume of
9,979,699 set in calendar 2007. 2014 was the airport's fourth
busiest year with the others all reached prior to the addition of the
new third terminal.
In 2014 the airport saw the uptick in passengers despite a 5.2% year
over year decrease in the number of commercial aircraft
operations. Commuter flights were up by 70.8% but represent only
a small fraction of JWA's paid passenger operations.
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