Click here for previous news stories

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San Diego North County Times, April 30, 2006 website posted May 1
"China driving aviation opportunity for San Diego" 

"If San Diego can find a way to build a large airport, perhaps at one of its military bases, it could become a bustling, prosperous international hub, federal aviation officials and regional planners say."

"International air traffic through Southern California is expected to nearly triple between now and 2030, according to the Southern California Association of Governments."

"And because Los Angeles International Airport is approaching a growth cap, and few airports are stepping forward to pick up the slack, San Diego is in position to snare a large share of the increase, Marion C. Blakey, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, said in a visit to the area last week. '

"About 17 percent of today's total [air triffic] is international traffic, and the international share of the region's passenger count is forecast to reach 27 percent by 2030, Hasan Ikhrata [planning and policy director for SCAG] said. He said that surge will be driven in large part by a more than tripling of Asian traffic, from 5 million passengers to
16.5 million."

"Much of the Asian surge will be driven by China."

"The Boeing Co. is projecting that China will buy more than 2,500 new (jet) airplanes over the next 20 years."

"In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and growing complaints about noise, Los Angeles politicians decided to substantially upgrade security there and establish a ceiling on LAX's future growth. As a result, Ikhrata said, LAX traffic will stop growing once it reaches 78 million passengers."

"'They're going to reach the cap by 2015, if not earlier,' he said."

"The only airport that seems prepared for the anticipated spike in traffic is Ontario International that handles 7 million passengers, and is projected to reach 30 million in 2030."

"The opportunity to plant a second major airport in Orange County evaporated a few years ago when residents there rejected using the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station for that purpose."

Click for more.

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OC Register, April 30, 2006
"Great Park Heist is Now Complete"

Steven Greenhut editorializes, "For those who missed it – and it was easy to miss, given the general lack of discussion – three Irvine City Council members walked off with the Orange County Great Park. They quietly passed a resolution late Tuesday night that turns the Great Park Corp. Board of Directors into a meaningless advisory board, then gives all financial control to the city of Irvine."

"Mayor Krom pushed forward a resolution that says, 'The City reviews and has final authority over all financial matters, including contracts for professional services, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Great Park.'”

He concludes "Where are the voices of good government? Who will stand up for the taxpayer, or the average county resident? Why, exactly, is this crowd allowed to get away with this heist?"

Click for the entire editorial and to post comments:

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 OC Register, April 29, 2006
"San Diego County officials are ruffling feathers with their suggestion to use an active military base for an airport expansion."

The Orange County Register takes a look at the San Diego airport issue that this website has been following closely.

"After deliberating and studying the issue for three years, the nine-member San Diego County Regional Airport Authority in June will make a decision on a preferred option. In November, San Diego County residents will be asked to consider that option in an advisory vote."

"Any potential option - from building a new airfield in the desert to reinvigorating existing technology that could make Lindbergh Field more efficient - is likely to have reverberations for travelers throughout Southern California. A few of the options propose building an airport at Camp Pendleton or Miramar, something the Marine Corps is fighting fiercely."

"Lindbergh Field is the nation's busiest single-runway airfield and provides some south Orange County residents with alternatives to Los Angeles and Orange County airports."

"'It's only an hour and 10 minutes away and you can take the train with connecting buses,' said Wayne Eggleston, a San Clemente City Councilman. Eggleston flew out of Lindbergh on a vacation trip to New York."

"'What a wonderful way to travel and not pay (for airport parking). It's very easy to do.'"

Click for more.

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OC Register, April 28, 2006
"Airport fee will finance project at JWA"

"Departing passengers at John Wayne Airport will be charged $4.50 beginning as early as July 1 to help pay for a $437 million expansion of the facility."

"Airport officials received a letter Thursday from the Federal Aviation Administration saying John Wayne could use a passenger-facility charge - a common user fee assessed airline passengers - to raise $321 million for the project, which will expand the terminal by 68 percent, add up to 3,200 parking spaces and make tarmac improvements."

"Construction will start this year and take five years."

Click for more.  The message board thread continues with a report on the status of the Long Beach Airport terminal expansion.

Website Editor: Neither project is presented as enabling additional flights since both airports operate under negotiated capacity limitations.

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El Toro Info Site report, April 27, 2006 - revised
Irvine politics – Great Park politics - airport politics

In recent days, the newspapers and blogs provide several stories about the 3-2 vote by the Irvine City Council to “steal” control of the park project from the Great Park Corp. These articles plus some comments from our viewers are posted on the message board.  See also below.

On the one side, we find mostly those who always have a bad word for Larry Agran - at the Register and LA Times and the anonymous Innocent Bystander who posts regularly to our board. On the other side, we find our Editor who observes that Irvine controlled the park project and the Great Park Corp from the very start so there was nothing to “steal”.

Steve Greenhut asks why the anti-airport crowd isn't speaking out against this “hijacking” of the park. One answer is that the anti-airport crowd is content, having gotten what it wants which is no airport. This week, they even got a chance to see an old adversary, Chuck Smith, suffer a bit.

If Larry Agran and Beth Krom really are as devious as they are portrayed in some of the posts, then a much better question is where are the voters of Irvine and what will they do about the composition of their city council.

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Public Notice, April 26, 2006
Restoration Advisory Board El Toro Site Tour

Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) members and other interested community members are invited to participate in a tour of Installation Restoration Program sites at the former MCAS El Toro. The tour will provide a firsthand opportunity to see the sites in their current condition.

The tour will be held on Wednesday, May 3 at 3:00 PM and take 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Meet in the parking lot of Building 307. Bring walking shoes, sunscreen, a hat and water bottle.

RSVP by Monday, May 1 to Katherine Lowry (858) 571-6764 or by email. For more information contact Mr. Darren Newton, BRAC Coordinator at (949) 726-5398.

A large public celebration will be held at the former base on May 20, details to follow.

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El Toro Info Site report, April 25, 2006
Chuck Smith: Final casualty in the war over El Toro

In a startling development, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to deny former Supervisor Chuck Smith a seat on the Orange County Airport Commission. Normally, supervisorial appointments - in this case by Lou Correa - receive near automatic approval from the remainder of the board.

The Smith nomination generated significant heat because of his past activities promoting an airport that the voters of the county had rejected.

Supervisors Bill Campbell and Tom Wilson spoke in opposition to his nomination. Jim Silva joined them. Chris Norby took the alternate position that the fight is over and it may be time to move on. If so, Smith became what may be the final casualty in the war over El Toro.

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LA Times, April 25, 2006
"Irvine Set to Take Control of Great Park"

"The city of Irvine is preparing to retreat from a pledge to transfer control of the Orange County Great Park to an independent countywide panel that has been overseeing its development for three years."

"The Irvine City Council, whose members have squabbled for years over the vision of the park and who should control it, tonight is expected to vote to relegate the Orange County Great Park Corp. to an advisory role."

"The change would mean the city alone would control about $380 million in developer fees earmarked to build the park."

"Mayor Beth Krom, who is pushing the proposed city takeover, said the corporation would function as a city department."

"City officials [initially] said creating a separate entity to build the park would protect Irvine taxpayers if costs soared beyond what was envisioned."

"The prospect of the park board losing its authority caught some surrounding government officials by surprise. 'I hadn't heard about this,' said Laguna Hills Councilman L. Allan Songstad Jr., who still chairs [ETRPA] a coalition of 10 South County cities that fought the airport and urged support for the Great Park."

"Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell, a finalist last month for a vacant park board seat, said he wasn't aware that the city intended to keep the land and the developer fees. 'That's a real change,' he said."

More from the Jean Pasco report . . .

Click for today's OC Register editorial "Great Park power grab".

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El Toro Info Site Report, April 24, 2006
OCTA, don’t forget the airports

A March 29, 2006 letter from the California Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics to the Orange County Transportation Authority, faults the 2006 Orange County Long Range Transportation Plan for ignoring air transportation.  The letter is in response to OCTA's January release of a draft Orange County Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) in connection with its Measure M spending program.

The scoping report for the LRTP stated “Existing transportation facilities within Orange County consist of freeways, toll ways, highways, local arterials, bus transit, commuter rail, and on- and off-road bicycle facilities.” What, no airports?

A search of the resulting draft report for "aviation" " flying" or "airport" finds little about facilitating air travel in the coming years. It refers only to two futuristic airport-related projects - projects where Orange County's part in the initial system is listed as either "No" or “To Be Determined”.

One of the projects is from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) 2004 study of an $8.4 billion LAX – Orange County Maglev corridor proposed to travel along the I-405 Corridor with stations at Union Station, West Los Angeles, LAX, Carson, Long Beach, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, John Wayne Airport, Irvine Transportation Center, Santa Ana, and Anaheim.

The second project is the $2.8 billion Anaheim – Ontario Airport leg of a Cal-Nevada Maglev line to Las Vegas which, if ever built, will likely begin at the Nevada end.

In its March 29 letter, the California Department of Transportation says of the OCTA's draft plan:  “We recommend that the Orange County LRTP include a section discussing the airports within Orange County and how they fit and work within the transportation system. . .  Information to consider including in the LRTP would be existing and forecasted operations . . . future runway extensions, or other airport improvements . . .”

Sacramento’s letter fits with this website’s continual urging that county and OCTA leaders develop plans that insure our ability to meet near-term and future aviation needs, without waiting for maglev. Right now, I’d welcome an easier drive to Ontario, additional non-stop flights from John Wayne to the East Coast, or Fly-Away bus service from O.C. to LAX to catch one there.

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North County Times, April 22, 2006 website posted April 23, 2006
“Study: Worldwide, no precedent for airport far from metropolis”

“If San Diego's airport authority builds an international airport in Imperial, Riverside or eastern San Diego counties, it would easily set a record for distance from a downtown area and threaten to make the new airport an economic disaster, a new study suggests.”

“Nowhere in the United States ---- indeed, nowhere in the world ---- is there an example of an airport as far from a metropolitan area as the four remote sites being considered by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority to replace Lindbergh Field, according to the report.”

“Released this week, the report says that most major airports in the United States and around the world are within five to 20 miles of city centers. In this country, it said, only two airports are more than 25 miles away from their centers. . .  Denver International Airport, 25.4 miles from the Colorado city's downtown [and] Dulles International Airport, 26.6 miles from the nation's capital.” More . . .

Website Editor: The report is a cautionary note for those who have hopes for a major Los Angeles World Airports facility at Palmdale to absorb a significant part of the expected growth in demand at LAX.

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Aero-News.net, April 21, 2006
"Final 717 Leave's Boeing's Long Beach Plant"

"In an emotional, informal ceremony Thursday at the Boeing -- formerly Douglas Aircraft -- Long Beach, CA plant, workers gathered before dawn to watch as the last commercial plane likely to be built at the facility was towed across Lakewood Boulevard to Long Beach Airport."

"Employees told Los Angeles television station KABC that the last 717 represents the end of an era at the plant, which opened in 1941 to help with the war effort. The last 717 is the last commercial aircraft that will be built in Southern California -- which, in the heyday of Douglas, was once a vibrant aerospace manufacturing center."

"More than 15,000 aircraft have been produced at the plant, which Boeing took over . . . when the company merged with former owner McDonnell Douglas in 1997."

"The plant is now slated exclusively for military work -- specifically, for the production of the C-17 Globemaster III heavy-lifter."

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Irvine World News, April 20, 2006
“Great Park design team is laying the groundwork and identifying issues that still need to be addressed.”

Today’s Irvine newspaper includes three articles and an editorial about the initial steps for converting the former El Toro base to a Great Park.

"Heads may be in the clouds, given the grand plans, but [Master Designer Ken] Smith reminded the [GPC] board members last week to keep their feet on the ground and take care of the fundamentals first. Lennar Corp. waits anxiously in the wings to get to work developing the private sectors of the park."

"Lennar needs to know by the end of May where to start tearing up runways, the symbolic end to the long battle to turn back attempts to turn the base into an international airport."

"An important date to mark on the calendar is May 20 when the Great Park administrators plan what they call 'a final salute' for the old base, throwing open the gates to the public for one last look around before the wrecking crews move in.”

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El Toro Info Site report, April 19, 2006 - updated

The Return of Chuck Smith

Next Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting includes this item under the consent calendar where it is agendized and can be approved without discussion:

Most viewers will remember former Supervisor Smith as a chief take-no-prisoners proponent for an El Toro commercial airport. After Orange County voters decided against the airport project and passed Measure W, Smith actively campaigned for Los Angeles to gain control of the former base against the will of the electorate.
 
Smith was removed as O.C.'s representative to the Southern California Association of Governments and lost his chance to become President of SCAG following his letter to the federal government - co-signed by Supervisor Jim Silva - advocating a hostile takeover of El Toro and the creation of a LAX satellite in Orange County.

Subsequently, Smith appeared before the Los Angeles City Council to argue for that city's attempts to block the Navy's sale of El Toro for non-aviation use.

As a member of the Orange County Airport Commission, Smith could bring his interest in expanding aviation service and regionalizing airport control to bear on John Wayne Airport issues. He once advocated for the sale of that airport to raise funds for the county and possibly to "sell partnerships in its governance" to others.

The Orange County Airport Commission makes recommendations for development, maintenance and operation of John Wayne Airport "and other airports which may be operated by the County of Orange." It advises the Board of Supervisors and makes recommendations on any matter pertaining to airports or air transportation. It also conducts relevant investigations as it may deem necessary. As an Airport Commissioner, Smith would gain additional status for promoting his airport agenda.

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Voice of San Diego, April 19, 2006
"Study: Miramar Is the 'Strongest' Option"

"Marine Corps Air Station Miramar emerged the victor of a new study of the marketability of proposed sites for a new [San Diego] regional airport, while four distant options in the desert and Riverside County were clearly the losers."

"Lindbergh Field, with a supplemental runway across the bay at Naval Air Station North Island, would also be strongly accepted by potential airport users for similar reasons."

"The study, which will be presented and discussed at the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority's Monday strategic planning meeting, could call into question Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton's viability as a new airport site. The sprawling 125,000-acre base is 40 miles away from San Diego's central business district. That's farther than any other airport to its related city center in the nation -- and nearly in the world. Only Tokyo's second airport would be farther away, at 41 miles."

Website Editor: Palmdale is 60 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

"While a Camp Pendleton airport would be unattractive to southern San Diego air travelers, it would draw in 500,000 more passengers than had previously been projected in 2030, because it is so close to Orange County."

"Camp Pendleton 'is far from an ideal solution for San Diego County,' the report says, 'because it would be inconvenient for many travelers. … [It] is perhaps best considered less of a San Diego County airport and more of a San Diego County/Orange County airport.'"

"The study dismisses March [Air Reserve Base] and three other sites as being too remote: Imperial County, Borrego Springs and Boulevard. While constrained capacity at Lindbergh would cause serious consequences -- longer waits, more traffic, higher fares -- the study says building an airport at a remote site would cause even greater problems."

"The study found it unlikely that passengers to nearby destinations such as Las Vegas would drive from their home to a proposed Miramar maglev station, ride the train, and 'then endure the airport and airline experience, only to arrive at their destination and still need to take a cab or rent a car.'"

Website Editor: This is what SCAG region planners hope that Los Angeles travelers will do, connecting by train from West LA to Ontario Airport.

Click for more.

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The Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2006
"Airports Anticipate Longer Security Lines"
"Change in Hiring Process for Screeners Creates Staffing Shortages at LAX, Orlando, Others"

"A change in hiring at the Transportation Security Administration is leaving some of the nation's biggest airports short-staffed and raising fears that long lines will return to security checkpoints this summer. Already, Orlando and Los Angeles are short on screeners . . ."

"Last week, airport and airline officials . . .  expressed concern that hiring will come too late for the summer rush that starts next month with Memorial Day. An Orlando airport representative warned of possible three-hour waits."

"Los Angeles is in worse shape, with 1,881 screeners on the payroll, some of which work part-time. The airport is supposed to have the equivalent of 2,001 full-time screeners at its authorized staffing level."

"The [TSA] agency is trying to aggressively hire in Orlando, Los Angeles and other cities. Still, some airport officials are concerned. Last week, the Los Angeles airport administration and airlines there decided to jointly send a letter to TSA . . . offering to help the federal agency with hiring. Replacements may not be available in meaningful numbers until fall, the letter said, and Los Angeles International may be short 300 full-time screeners, or about 15% of its allotted staffing, in the peak travel month of August."

"'LAX would be faced with significant security concerns and poor perception of the airport,' said the letter, signed by Lydia Kennard, the executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, and Steven Holt, chairman of the Los Angeles Airline/Airport Affairs Committee, which represents airlines operating at LAX."

Click for the full report.

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LA Times, April 17, 2006
"LAX, terminally dreadful"

Chris Ayres . . .  a much-traveled Los Angeles correspondent for the Times of London registers his pet peeves with LAX.

"According to the management of Los Angeles International Airport there's a simple reason why passengers keep voting it one of the world's worst airline facilities. Yep — dirty restrooms."

"A few more mops on the ground, say the eggheads, and LAX could improve its woeful No. 19 ranking on the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 survey of large global airports."

"Action, we are informed, is already being taken: 18 restrooms a year will be refurbished. Cracks in the floors will be filled. Walls will be repainted, possibly in cheerful colors. All in all, the plan feels a bit like trying to save General Motors from bankruptcy by changing the logo."

"Let's face it: The problem with LAX is not the urinals. The reason passengers complain about LAX is because, when they fly, they get to see other airports. And I'm not just talking about LAX versus Hong Kong (No. 1), or LAX versus Orlando (No. 2, believe it or not). I'm talking about LAX versus airports that were recently owned by Soviet satellites."

Website Editor: Check out Ayres' tongue-in-cheek critique which doesn't even touch on our major complaints - the difficulty of getting there and the long security lines.

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El Toro Info Site report, April 17, 2006 - revised
"Wheels up Palmdale"

Los Angeles World Airports, LAWA issued a media release this past week: "Mayor Villaraigosa Supports Federal Grant Sought by Palmdale Regional Airport to Help Attract Air Service to Southern California."

"'Wheels up Palmdale,' a coalition which includes the City of Palmdale, the County of Los Angeles and LAWA, filed an application seeking $900,000 in federal grants from the USDOT's Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP)."

"PMD has been cited by Mayor Villaraigosa, LAWA and the Southern California Association of Governments as having a key role in meeting the expected doubling of demand for air service in the region over the next 25 years, and though PMD is one of the fastest-growing regions of California, it has lacked consistent commercial air service since 1998."

"PMD . . .  represents a critical component to the comprehensive regional air transportation plan for the Los Angeles region as well as all of Southern California. Re-introduction of scheduled service at PMD will alleviate air traffic congestion at LAX as well as surface transportation leading to LAX and Burbank on critically impacted roadways."

Website Editor: Major airports such as Denver International (1995), Dallas-Ft. Worth (1974) and Washington's Dulles (1962) were developed after extensive site selection studies. They were launched with massive investments because they met a clear need. These airports justified their existence by quickly provided service to millions of passengers.

San Diego County is conducting a thorough search for a future airport site and is contemplating spending billions of dollars on its development.

At one point, Orange County was proposing to spend billions on a commercial airport at El Toro though the proposal for a second county airport at that location eventually was rejected as unneeded.

Despite the availability of a passenger terminal opened in 1971, that LAWA says is "capable of handling 300,000", Palmdale served only 4,877 travelers in 2005. It is difficult to see it living up to the glowing words from political leaders and LAWA, or achieving SCAG's goal of 12.8 million annual passengers, given the minimal financial commitment being proposed.  It leaves one questioning whether there will be sufficient demonstrated need for PMD to play "a key role" in meeting regional demand. It will take a much greater commitment - including ground access infrastructure - for Palmdale to provide enought capacity to "alleviate air traffic congestion at LAX".

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OC Register, April 16, 2006
"Cleaning up El Toro"

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is endorsing a Navy plan to remove at least 2,000 cubic yards of earth at the old El Toro base. The materials are contaminated with luminescent paint, cleaning fluids, pesticides and herbicides. The waste is kept at two sites that were used as storage yards and sludge-drying beds."

"The biggest pollution problem at the base remains a pair of solvent plumes, pools of ground water contaminated with cleaning solvent, the legacy of years of cleaning aircraft engines and other equipment during the half-century the base was operating."

"The EPA expects all El Toro pollution sites to be within compliance by 2010, although removing and treating the tainted ground water is expected to take until 2036."

"The Navy has spent about $191 million cleaning up El Toro and expects to spend an additional $66 million to finish the job."

"Barring an unexpected pollution find however, Great Park Corporation executives expect construction to proceed as planned."

Click for more.

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Department of Transportation, April 13, 2006 posted April 14, 2006
"Top 10 Airports Ranked by January 2006 Domestic Enplanements"

DOT data released Thursday shows LAX dropping from fourth to sixth busiest U.S. airport as measured by domestic passenger boardings in January. The Department of Transportation data does not consider international departures.

Phoenix is gaining on the Los Angeles airport - where traffic is in a continuing slump - and Phoenix may edge out LAX for domestic sixth place.

The national statistics released from Washington tend to be about 6 weeks behind what this website compiles from local airport sources. Our data includes international passengers and deplaning as well as enplaning traffic, all of which are counted towards airport capacity limits.

Passenger numbers in millions (000,000)

Jan. 2006 Rank	Airport Name	Jan. 2006	Jan. 2005 Rank	Jan. 2005
1	Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta	2.814	1	2.880
2	Chicago O'Hare	2.300	2	2.168
3	Dallas-Ft. Worth	2.014	3	1.957
4	Denver	1.621	6	1.502
5	Las Vegas McCarran	1.606	5	1.537
6	Los Angeles Int'l	1.577	4	1.610
7	Phoenix Sky Harbor	1.558	7	1.465
8	Houston Bush Intercontinental	1.303	10	1.164
9	Orlando	1.280	8	1.286
10	Minneapolis-St.Paul	1.160	9	1.195

Source: T-100 Domestic Market

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OC Register, April 14, 2006
“Natural Selections”

“The Great Park in Irvine is coming into sharper focus. Designer Ken Smith’s updated plans for the 1,347-acres of public land at the former air base were shown to the Great Park board Thursday.”  Click for the latest graphic layout of the park and its features.

“Smith expects the master plan to be complete in four months.”

More . . .

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Irvine World News, April 13, 2006
"Demolition of runways a month away"

"The city has issued demolition permits for the runways, taxiways and aircraft parking aprons at the old El Toro base."

"Demolition is expected to begin within 30 days. Recycled Materials Co. of Denver, Colo., will be breaking up and grinding the estimated 4 million tons of concrete. The company says it likely will take at least two years to pull up all the old concrete and four years to process and reuse it. Plans call for all the ground-up concrete to be reused at the Great Park for roadbeds, building pads, walkways, stream banks and other applications. Some of it also will be used as 'coarse aggregate,' the gravel that often is used in concrete to give it strength."

"Under terms of the contract, neither the city nor the Great Park Corp. will pay for the recycling; Recycled Materials will earn its money from the sale of the ground-up concrete."  

Click for more from the Irvine newspaper.

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El Toro Info Site report, April 12, 2006

John Wayne March statistics show no growth

 

John Wayne airport released its statistics for March 2006. The number of passengers served for the first quarter of 2006 was down by 0.6 percent from the same three months of 2005. This data reinforces the editorial opinion, of this website, that the airport is in no danger of hitting its Settlement Agreement limit in 2006 despite dire predictions by some Newport airport activists.

 

Even more significant is the absence of any growth in the number of commercial airline operations since before 911. The renegotiated agreement between the county and Newport Beach has yet to result in any increase in air carrier operations overhead.  See the table below.

According to the Daily Pilot, Newport Beach City officials "tried to keep their enthusiasm in check" when they cut this deal with the supervisors in 2002, anticipating that there might be no more flights.

 

3 months ending March 31	Total air carrier operations
2006	20,950
2005	21,383
2004	21,529
2003	20,382
2002	20,232
2001	20,896
2000	21,826

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OC Register, People Watch, by Donna Bunce, April 11, 2006
“Let’s have a party”

"Let's have a party!" announced Michael Ray at the Great Park Conservancy's inaugural event, "Jewel of Orange County," held Friday night on a runway at the former El Toro Marine base in a beautiful tented pavilion for 750 guests. Cocktails, a silent auction showcasing fabulous jewels, a gourmet dinner, and a presentation by Great Park master designer Ken Smith made for a fun-filled and informative affair. Sisters-in-law Teddie and Janet Ray chaired the evening.”

“Money raised (which turned out to be nearly $300,000) would support a community outreach program to tout the Great Park as an amenity for all of Orange County.”

"’It's our first concert in the park!’ exclaimed Janet Ray. All in all, it was a great beginning for the nonprofit Great Park Conservancy!”

Click for more as El Toro moves from the News to the Society page.

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LA Times, April 10, 2006
"LAX Wants Its Image on a Much Higher Plane"

"The city is embarking on an image makeover for the aging airport that it hopes will raise LAX from near the bottom of J.D. Power's annual airport survey. In 2004, travelers ranked LAX 19th out of 22 airports that serve 30 million or more people a year."

"LAX's poor reputation with passengers has long bothered airport officials, who were reluctant to spend money to update the 77-year-old airport while lawmakers debated an $11-billion modernization proposal."
 
"Now that the plan has been put aside, the city is eager to make cosmetic changes it hopes will make a big difference with travelers."

"To start, officials plan to spend $6 million a year to update terminals, including refurbishing 18 of LAX's 180 restrooms a year. Work has already begun on a $2-million upgrade of Terminal 3, where cracked flooring has been replaced and holes in the walls patched."

"Customers are also unhappy about long waits to get to the airport and at ticket counters and security checkpoints."
 
"LAX's 88 airlines hope the push for better customer service will encourage passengers to keep using the world's fifth-busiest airport."

Click for more on steps to be taken and a companion piece on how "LAX moves to cut shuttle congestion"

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The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise, April 9, 2006
 "Palm Springs hopes to attract more international flights by building a new terminal."

"Palm Springs International Airport aims to make the 'international' portion of its name more relevant. Airport officials are drafting details for a five-year, multimillion-dollar expansion project which would add an international terminal, expand the ticketing counter and build a new facility that would screen for explosives."

"The airport has already paid, in part, to accommodate bigger crowds recently approving a $9.2 million contract to Harbor Construction to build an eight-gate domestic terminal replacing four 12-year-old temporary gates."

"The airport also spent $3 million to expand its recently reopened security-checkpoint system. . . security officials said wait times have dropped 64 percent over last year to an average of four to five minutes. 'Try and get that at LAX or even Ontario,' [one] said."  See story below.

More . . .

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The Wall St. Journal, April 7, 2006
"The Gate Less Traveled"

“We surveyed major U.S. airports in search of the fastest routes from curb to gate.”

 

“Here is a look at peak security screening wait times at 10 of the busiest U.S. airports. Below, the average wait time during a recent busy holiday period, the one-week travel time surrounding Thanksgiving 2005, compared with the same period the year before.”

 

Airport	Wait time  ‘05/’04
Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International	16.54 / 11.21
Los Angeles International	19.54 / 10.29
Denver International	12.26 / 10.16
John F. Kennedy International	14.61 / 7.84
George Bush Intercontinental	12.27 / 9.03
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County	6.92 / 6.94
Orlando International	13.48 / 8.6
Newark Liberty International	11.68 / 11
Philadelphia International	14.07 / 17.7
Seattle-Tacoma International	8.18 / 8.39

 

The Journal got its data from the TSA.

 

Website Editor: LAX dropped from fourth worst in 2004 to worst in 2005, with the security wait time almost doubling between the two years. Passenger traffic volume was nearly the same in November 2004 and 2005.

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El Toro Info Site report, April 7, 2006
Everything you want to know about SoCal airline traffic

The Southern California Association of Governments, SCAG, has contracted Back Aviation Solutions to gather and assemble data on airline passengers, cargo, number of operations, routes and more for the region. We are pleased to see this happening; for the longest time it seemed that this website was the only place where such data was collected and published.

The first of the SCAG reports for the 2nd quarter of 2006 (looking ahead) is web published here.  Of particular interest in the data:

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Irvine World News, April 6, 2006
“The area around the Irvine Spectrum is about to explode with development.”

“The city is expanding in the north with the Northern Sphere, the west with the Irvine Business Complex, the east with the Great Park – and now the south with new housing plans from the Irvine Co.”

“The area along Laguna Canyon Road near the Spectrum will soon be booming with home construction. The area is zoned for a maximum of 2,300 dwellings – but if a requested zoning change is approved by the city, 7,600 dwellings can be built.”

“The area near the Spectrum was once under FAA restrictions from the old El Toro air base. Now, with no military air base and no commercial airport coming, FAA restrictions are lifted and homes can be built.”  Website Editor: This is in the area frequently referred to as El Toro's “14,000 acre buffer zone".

Click for the full report on what is planned.

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El Toro Info Site report, April 5, 2006
National Archives at Great Park?

The Great Park Corp's latest glossy Benchmark Report says, under Looking Ahead, Spring 2006, "National Archives proposes to build west coast archives at Great Park".
It was news to us, since the Archives (or at least the Federal Records Center) seems solidly entrenched in the ziggurat building in Laguna Niguel.

From Marsha Burgess of the GPC we learn that the National Archives has approached them "to discuss building a facility at the Great Park. They will make a presentation at the April 27th Board meeting. These discussions are preliminary."

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El Toro Info Site editorial, April 4, 2006
An open message to Pat Bates, Cassie DeYoung and Orange County voters

On June 6th, South Orange County voters will choose between Pat Bates and Cassie DeYoung to fill the supervisorial seat being vacated by Tom Wilson. Both of them are campaigning - in part - on their records as leaders in the fight against El Toro Airport.

It is refreshing to have genuine El Toro fighters on the ballot as opposed to the numerous candidates we've seen who inflated their miniscule records on that front for political advantage.

El Toro is done. Now, this website poses some questions to the candidates about what they will do if elected to get us to an airplane seat in the future, either at John Wayne or some other regional airport.

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El Toro Info Site report, April 3, 2006
SoCal air travel starts 2006 on a flat note

The air travel year is off to a flat start at the Southern California Association of Governments, SCAG region's six airports. This is based on the airports' reports for February 2006. Total year-to-date passenger volume was 13,035,011 - 0.2 percent less than last year.

The most significant change occurred at LAX where domestic travel continued its slump, falling almost 2 percent below the level for 2005. LAX domestic travel is now 12-1/2 percent below the record set in 2000. This means that over the past six years, one out of every eight LAX domestic passengers has switched to other airports in the region.

International travel is just under last year's and pre-911 record levels.

Bob Hope Airport showed a strong 10 percent year-to-year gain due to the expansion of service by JetBlue last May. Palm Springs and Ontario were up by smaller amounts.

Long Beach recorded a decrease in volume due to a reduction of service by American Airlines. The dip is expected to be temporary and reversed when other airlines take over the AA slots.
 
John Wayne airport reported a small decline, bolstering the opinion that JWA will not hit its 10.3 million passenger cap this year and has room, under a Settlement Agreement with Newport Beach, for more flights.

Elsewhere in Southern California, San Diego's Lindbergh Field reported a passenger increase of 4.9 percent over the same two months in 2005.

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Associated Press, April 3, 2006
"O'Hare Set for Largest-Ever U.S. Expansion"

 "After decades of debate and scrapped blueprints, crews are moving dirt and pouring concrete at O'Hare International Airport for the largest airport expansion in the nation's history."

"The seven-year, $15 billion project is designed to eliminate most weather-related delays and erase O'Hare's reputation as the perennial knot in the nation's aviation system."

"Questions . . . loom over the project's financing, which relies partly on a shrinking pool of federal money and airlines that have been bleeding red ink for years."
 
"And the project faces a fierce legal challenge by residents of two adjacent suburbs, where hundreds of homes and business are slated for removal and 1,300 graves are to be relocated."

"Much of O'Hare's problem can be traced to its pretzel-like runway configuration, a remnant of its origin as a military airfield during the 1940s [with] intersecting [runway] layout. . . .The project to untangle O'Hare will create a mostly parallel layout, rather than a crisscrossing tangle. . . FAA officials say parallel runways are the ideal design."

Click for more . . .

Website Editor: We are reminded of a prolific Newport Beach letter writer and Airport Working Group director who argues endlessly that El Toro's crossed runways "were fuel efficient because they pointed to where pilots wanted to go."

O'Hare's expansion also reminds us that former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan proposed a similar plan for LAX, expanding the airport and adding an additional parallel runway to increase the airport's capacity to meet Southern California's aviation demand. That plan was scrapped and LAX remains the only one of the nation's busiest airports to neither expand or have a plan for expansion. Instead, the new Los Angeles airport remodel will reduce its number of passenger gates to settle legal challenges from adjacent cities.

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