OC
“Watching” AB 556
“More World Travelers Using LAX”
“
“Staff: Nix remote
sites from new
airport list”
El Toro Info Site report, April 8, 2005
10 Reasons Why Orange County Should Not Cede Control of John
Wayne Airport to Newport Beach
El Toro Info Site report, April 7, 2005
FedEx
OC Register, Irvine News, April 6, 2005
"C'mon back"
LA Times, Travel Section, April 3, 2005
“JFK to Manhattan for only $7? Yes, if you take the train”
North County Times, April 2, 2005
“Report details Lindbergh Field expansion plan”
El Toro Info Site report, April 1, 2005
Building in the JWA flight path
Click here for last month's news stories
Daily Breeze, April 30, 2005, updated May 1
“The much-dreaded Base Realignment and Closure process, watched closely by South Bay supporters of the Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, moves into high gear next week. The new nine-member commission will start with an open meeting Tuesday morning.”
“That will be followed by closed briefings by intelligence officials and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the strategic situation and the force structure requirements that are shaping the decisions on which facilities will be closed, reduced or enhanced.”
“Those sessions are intended to prepare the BRAC
commissioners for the real work, which starts with the release of
Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recommendations for closures and
adjustments of the
thousands of defense installations and facilities in the 50 states. [Rumsfeld's list] could be released as early
as May
12.” Click
for the full article with more on the process.
“The deadline looms over the heads of Los
Angeles Air
Force Base supporters. Proponents have spent the past two years
advocating for
the El Segundo facility, which creates 50,000 jobs and $8 billion in
contracts
in
Website Editor: Airport
supporters will be looking for potential commercial aviation sites on
the
closure list. In the
In
This is small when
compared to
the economic benefit of reusing the land for a major airport. In 2001,
independent
consultants working for the county’s Auditor-Controller - studying
“Recently named Airport Revenue News' Best Airport Director of 2004,
John
Martin has been shaping policy at
“Q: You have been able to
achieve more frequent landings and takeoffs without new runways. Can
you
explain how you were able to do that and what it means for growth at
the
airport?”
“A: We've put in place a precision runway monitoring system
that
allows simultaneous landing on parallel runways. . . We
think we can continue to see capacity
improvements by using this technology.”
“Q: What is the status of adding a runway?”
“A: It's on hold indefinitely. What needs to be done is smart growth. The growth we see at this airport needs to be with larger aircraft, and to primarily longer-haul international markets. In the month of January, we had passengers increase 12 percent and flights were down 4 percent. It's a remarkable statistic. It reflects that the airlines are using larger aircraft and they're getting more passengers on each plane. That's smart growth.”
“Q: How do airport managers feel about establishing
high-speed rail
for
“A: The airport commission has come on record in support of
high-speed rail. We think it would reduce the number of flights here,
and we
would see a 5 to 8 percent drop in passenger traffic if high-speed rail
is
introduced. The markets it would help us with — markets like
“At SFO, we would like to see a station right across the freeway from the international terminal and we would extend our AirTrain system to connect to the high-speed rail.”
Riverside Press-Enterprise, April 28, 2005
“March
airport funding at risk”
“Efforts
to stimulate economic growth at March Air Reserve Base could take a
nose dive
if the Federal Aviation Administration disqualifies the airport from
millions
of dollars in future funding.”
“At
issue is a rule blocking private airplanes from using military-owned
airfields.
Until it is resolved, the FAA this week said it will no longer consider
grant
applications from the civilian reuse authority at March.”
“Congress requires general aviation uses at airports be allowed as a condition of receiving grants for airport improvements from the FAA. But security concerns bar private airplanes from using military airfields.”
Website Editor: The
El Toro Info Site report, April 26, 2005
OC “Watching” AB 556
Yesterday, AB 556 was approved, 9-3 by the Assembly Transportation Committee. The vote was 9-3 with unanimous Democratic support and split Republican opposition.
As previously
reported, this bill is backed by an array of politicians,
governmental units
and groups from the LAX area. It imposes noise variance requirements
intended
to impede expansion of the state’s main airport. It fits with the
Opposition
to the bill was registered by the
A member of the Orange County Chief
Executive’s Office said today that the
bill – which also addresses noise impacts around
In
our view, legislative action that is intended to limit he
utilization of LAX is bad for
“More World Travelers Using LAX”
“More
international travelers flew in and out of
”The record increase marks a milestone for LAX, the nation's main
gateway to
Asia and its No. 2 point of departure for
”Low airfares, an early Easter holiday and a weak U.S. dollar, which
encouraged
more Europeans and Asians to travel here, boosted international traffic
in the
first three months of the year, even as domestic flights continue to
lag.”
Click
for the entire article, including information about strong air
traffic at
“
“Today the Orange County Great Park Corporation
[issued] a
formal Request for Qualifications, inviting world class landscape
architects
and designers to compete for the job of Master Designer for the
“Thirty-eight internationally known landscape
architecture
and design firms have been specifically invited to submit their
qualifications,
and any qualified design firm is also invited to submit its
qualifications. Dr. Hamid Shirvani, Provost and Professor of
Architecture
at
“The semi-finalists selected by the Board
will be provided a
stipend to develop a conceptual design plan for the
“Staff: Nix remote
sites from new
airport list”
“The staff of the San
Diego County
Airport Authority is recommending dropping Borrego Springs and an
unspecified
site in
“Eliminating Borrego
Springs and
“The [regional airport]
authority
was established by the state Legislature to assume management of
Lindbergh from
the
“Authority board members
have long
contended that expansion of Lindbergh, the downtown San Diego airfield
that has
served as the county's airport for decades, does not solve the region's
long-term airport needs.”
State Assemblyman George
“Plescia
said he remains unconvinced that the county needs a new airfield
despite the
authority's contention that Lindbergh's ability to handle increases in
passenger flight and air cargo demand will be maxed out by the year
2022. The
lawmaker said he does not agree with the authority's projections for
increased
demand.”
Website Editor: Click
for the
complete article. Also see today’s related
story from the San Diego
Union-Tribune.
A new website has been created at www.ocgp.org for those who want to submit comments or stay in touch with the project.
The Board voted 5-0 to rejoin ETRPA, ten years after the county quit the reuse planning group in April 1995.
Supervisor Jim Silva, a long time El Toro
airport
supporter, asked
Citing efforts by
Supervisor Lou Correa, in his first airport
specific act
on the board, said that he looked forward to working with ETRPA on
meeting the
county’s future aviation needs.
”The J.D. Power and Associates research firm dug up [passenger complaints] in a 2004 customer satisfaction survey that ranked LAX near the bottom of 76 world airports in categories including concessions, baggage claim, check-in, security checkpoints, terminals and airport accessibility.”
“In the J.D. Power survey, which was released in
December,
LAX finished in a four-way tie for 68th place in overall satisfaction.
LAX
officials attribute their airport's poor showing to a lack of a
comprehensive
modernization in more than 20 years.”
”LAX directors took the findings to heart, and hired J.D. Power to help
find
short-term solutions to some of the problems that travelers identified.
Representatives from J.D. Power, the
airport,
airlines and the Transportation Security Administration held a kickoff
meeting
Wednesday, and unleashed a flurry of initial ideas.”
”As a possible citywide vote on improvements at
“Those pushing the possible initiative have come
up with
their official name: the Long Beach Alliance, a change from their
earlier Long
Beach Coalition.”
Opposition includes “members of the neighborhood activist group,
LBHUSH2. Joe Sopo, a Long Beach Realtor
and LBHUSH2
leader, said . . . ‘The JetBlue initiative only shows that JetBlue is
willing
to split the community for its own benefit and profit." Sopo added, if
the
initiative passes, it would set the stage for renovations even larger
than a
study of an improvements package approved by the council in February.”
”A citywide vote on the airport issue could be one of the most volatile
elections in memory. . . Already some city officials have said an
initiative
could be divisive, pitting neighborhoods against each other. Those who
live
under the flight path, and those who don't.”
”Depending on the climate before an election, the initiative could end
up
evolving into an unofficial referendum on how the public thinks City
Hall is
performing.” Sound familiar?
”At issue is the proposal to expand the airport terminal to accommodate
the
nearly 3 million annual visitors. City staff and airport managers,
using a
consultant study, had recommended the 58,320-square-foot terminal be
expanded
to 133,324 square feet. But the council on Feb. 8 approved an
environmental
impact report of improvements up to 102,980 square feet.”
”Opponents of a large terminal have cited concern that a bigger
building could
eventually invite more flights.” For
more . . .
Website Editor: No mention is made of Mike Gordon’s Assembly Bill 1197 which could transfer eventual control of the airport’s future to a regional airport authority.
Approve amended joint powers agreement for membership to El Toro Reuse
Planning Authority; and approve appointment of Chairman Campbell as
regular member and Supervisor Tom Wilson as alternate member
"In the wake of flak from the
region's
federal and state lawmakers, the agency searching for a new regional
airport
site agreed Monday to withhold consideration of military facilities
until
an upcoming round of national base closures is completed at year's end."
"Lindbergh Field is the nation's busiest single-runway airport and is projected to be out of room to handle additional passengers and air traffic by 2015." SanDiego vs. John Wayne usage data
"Expanding
the
614-acre Lindbergh Field remains a possibility, but that would require
finding the necessary acreage. Taking the land now occupied by the
Marine
Corps Recruit Depot adjacent to Lindbergh Field is one possibility that
would allow the expansion."Click
here to read article about the nine possible sites to replace Lindberg.
Click
here to read Mark Walker's complete article in the Early Bird News.
The
Daily Pilot reported recently that the Newport Beach City
Council
is working with the County to create a joint powers authority to
exercise
control over expansion of A city councilman Tod Ridgeway is quoted as
saying
the draft agreement would give Supervisor Jim Silva says the goal is “to
allow This website offers its list of 10
Reasons Why Orange County Should Not Cede Control of John Wayne Airport
to Newport Beach and thereby limit JWA's future potential
should
more passenger service someday be needed. Not the least of these
reasons
is that current airport restrictions extend until 2015. Any deal made
now
would prematurely bind the hands of future County supervisors and
voters.
Perhaps that is what the Newport Beach Council has in mind.
Each month, this website’s traffic report
details
how many visitors come to the site, what pages they view, how long they
stay, etc. Some of the roughly 20,000 people who visit each month turn
out to be seeking information other than This month, we investigated why we had several
hundred
hits on our old Fedex page http://www.eltoroairport.org/involved/fedex.htmland
found it ranks high in a Google search for “Federal Express”.
We posted the FedEx page in 1998 when the air
freight
carrier supported creation of a commercial airport at The
El Toro Reuse Planning Authority is asking the county to rejoin the
organization,a
decade after it left to pursue an airport plan that eventually was
defeated.
The authority says that if the county joins it will increase the
group's
clout as it labors to fend off legislation in
El
Toro Info Site report, April 8, 2005
- revised
10 Reasons Why Orange County Should Not Cede Control of John
Wayne Airport to Newport Beach
El Toro
Info Site report, April 7, 2005
FedEx
OC
Register,
Irvine News, April 6, 2005
"C'mon back”
”Of the top 25
”Of course, not all airport rail service is created equal. Getting from LAX to downtown on the Green Line, for instance, can involve transfers from a bus and onto three different lines to reach Union Station.”
”
AirTrain JFK, which began service in December 2003, served 8.7 million passengers in its first full year of operation.”
”It connects JFK with the
Website Editor: In Los Angeles, regional plannersseem to avoid solving the LAX access problem, in hopes that frustrated passengers will use other airports.
”Adding a second runway to San Diego International Airport's Lindbergh Field would require moving 10,850 people and purchasing more than 1,800 acres of land, according to a report prepared for airport directors. The expansion also would force the purchase of 3,220 homes.” <>
“Prepared by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority's operations division, the report dated April 4 appeared as an agenda item for a meeting of the authority board scheduled for Monday. The report was obtained from the authority's Web site on Wednesday, but it had been removed from the site on Thursday.”
On April 5, voters in
The Orange County Airport
Land Use Commission is responsible for screening development
projects
in the environs of airports to protect both aircraft passengers and
persons
on the ground. This website criticizes ALUC for its still lingering,
costly,
and obsolete
controls over the environs of
ALUC approved the 37-story
For technical and political reasons, ALUC continues
to
screen John Wayne vicinity projects against the noise footprints and
flight
paths for airport operations that were approved after litigation in
1985.
The commission has yet to develop new restrictions for the increased
number
of commercial flights recently negotiated between the County and
ALUC plans are required by state law to look 20
years
into the future. Unless the County, as airport operator, insists that
the
JWA Airport Environs Land Use Plan be updated with an eye on future
expansion
possibilities,