April 26 - May 2, 2010
More for Money - OCBJ Readers Letters
The OCBJ calls
The project to add a 300,000 square foot third terminal was
approved ten years ago during the dying days of the fight over
As required by
At the time, county studies estimated JWA’s runway capacity
at almost 14 million annual passengers but the supervisors agreed with
In part due to the restrictions imposed on air carriers,
John Wayne serves only 20 non-stop destinations today, down from 25 in
2005.
I have no problem with airport neighbors and their electeds
doing everything possible to keep down the adverse impacts of a
commercial airport on their community. Airports are best located away
from residential areas. I supported Measure F that would have
restricted the growth of both John Wayne and
I do have a problem with government spending large sums of
public money on capitol projects with inadequate justification. In the
case of John Wayne, the plans that were approved for the expansion call
for a lot more space in the terminals and in the parking lots but not
on airplanes.
The negotiated passenger caps limit the number of seats
allowed on planes. The agreement that sets the caps will come up for
review next year and there is growing pressure to keep down the
utilization of the new terminal space.
As the OCBJ article notes, “the airport is collecting a $4.50 per
passenger fee . . . to fund about three-quarters of the
expansion.”
Perhaps it is tea party
mentality, but I think that the flying public deserves more air service
for their money, or the money should not be spent.
Leonard Kranser, Editor, El Toro Info Site
Long Beach's airport of the future - Press-Telegram
Artist depictions of major renovations set for the historic Long Beach Airport show the the outside of the airport and passenger areas. The work, which will be done in phases and is expected to cost $136 million, began with construction of a parking structure and street improvements. The concourse, set to be ready by 2013, will accommodate the growth in passengers, which has climbed to 3 million annually.
The images reveal a highly stylized airport designed to replace crowded and aging passenger concourses that have swelled with passengers as volumes more than doubled in recent years.
Under the modernization plan, 11 gates accompanied by waiting areas and several gift and snack shops will sit parallel to the airport tarmac.
Work on the new concourse will begin later this year, with completion scheduled for 2013.
April 19 - April 25, 2010
Southwest cutting flights - Glendale News Press
Airline plans to trim 82 departures a week from Bob Hope Airport.
Southwest Airlines, which accounts for two-thirds of passenger traffic at Bob Hope Airport, will phase out 12% of its weekly flights by September, airport officials said.
The carrier’s decision to trim 82 flights from its weekly schedule is expected to further decrease already-declining passenger numbers at the commuter hub. The drop from 712 to 630 weekly flights will mean a 6% reduction in the total weekly flights leaving the airport.
Passenger traffic falls at Ontario airport in March - The Press-Enterprise
Passenger traffic at Ontario International Airport fell 4.4 percent in March compared to the same month in 2009. The airport had 398,429 passengers last month, according to statistics from Los Angeles World Airports which owns and operates the Ontario airport and Los Angeles International Airport.
For 24 consecutive months, the airport's passenger traffic has declined each month year over year.
The airport lost daily Aeromexico flights in February after the international airline cut back to seasonal service.
The airport's largest airline, Southwest, added two nonstop flights, one linking Ontario and Chicago Midway Airport and the other linking Ontario and Denver, in mid-March. The airline cut back its only flight to and from Nashville and one of 10 flights to Sacramento. In May, one nonstop flight each will be eliminated on routes to and from Oakland and Phoenix.
LAWA posts LAX, ONT March results
Passenger traffic at LAX rose 3.77 percent in March compared to March 2009. For the year to date, volume was up by 5.4 percent.
At Ontario, March traffic was down by 4.4 percent from the same month last year. For the first quarter, Ontario volume was down 2.83 percent.
New Airport Terminal Flies With Planning - Long Beach Gazette
A pared-down version of new passenger lounges hiding behind the historic Long Beach Airport terminal drew unqualified praise last Thursday from even the harshest critics, and unanimous approval of the site plan review from a pared-down Planning Commission.
Terminal renovation has been on the drawing board since 2001, when JetBlue announced it would make Long Beach Airport its West Coast hub. Since then, Alaska Airlines, Delta Airlines and US Airways has helped to fill the maximum 41 daily commercial jet slots, and the airport now serves more than 3 million passengers a year.
In 2008, the City Council finally gave preliminary approval of plans to expand the terminal to up to 90,000 square feet and to add a parking garage of up to 3,300 parking spaces.
Mario Rodriguez, who became Long Beach Airport director in February 2009, came to town advocating a phased approach to expansion. He pushed through a plan to start the parking garage construction with 1,989 parking spaces, with the ability to add 1,400 more if and when it is necessary.
The new passenger concourse, first unveiled March 4 at a Planning Commission study session, follows the same approach. New building construction will total only 34,750 square feet, bringing the entire terminal complex to 73,770 square feet. The proposed new concourse could be expanded if necessary, but is more than adequate to handle current passenger loads, officials said.
Website Editor: The entire Long Beach terminal complex, after the expansion, would equal in size about one-fourth of the new third terminal being added at John Wayne Airport.
Jet din falls on new ears - Daily Pilot
Some departing flights at JWA have been turning east too early, creating unwanted noise, residents say.
While residents of the Bluffs neighborhood in Newport Beach claim that the number of noisy jets flying over their homes hasn’t changed since the Federal Aviation Administration introduced a new takeoff procedure at John Wayne Airport, homeowners in the Irvine Terrace area claim they’ve noticed a big difference.
Residents from the neighborhood on the east side of Newport Bay, which is bordered by Bayside Drive and Pacific Coast Highway, say that many of the jets taking off from John Wayne now turn east directly over their homes.
The FAA disputes these claims.
April 12 - April 18, 2010
LAX as a metaphor for U.S. decline - Gary Warner, Travel Editor
I don't especially like LAX. Pulitzer-prize winner Thomas Friedman sees is as a metaphor for the decline of U.S.
LAX is spending what seems like a whopping $1.5 billion on various upgrades. But it's to remodel a broken model. "Lipstick on a pig" as one commenter on HuffingtonPost put it.
John Wayne Nears Midway Point in Three-Year, $543M Expansion - OCBJ
The $543 million expansion of John Wayne Airport is one of a handful of big construction projects keeping an otherwise idled industry busy in Orange County.
The three-year project is adding a third passenger terminal, parking structure, central utility plant and improvements to the airport’s two existing terminals.
The current expansion is designed to help the airport handle up to 10.8 million passengers a year by 2011, the maximum under an agreement with neighboring cities that runs through 2015.
The airport is well below the cap now, in the wake of the recession. Last year, John Wayne saw nearly 8.7 million passengers, down from its peak of 10 million travelers in 2007.
The third terminal stands to boost the number of gates at the airport from 14 to 20, including two for international flights, which started this month with Air Canada in temporary space in the second terminal.
Part of the new terminal will house U.S. Customs and Border Protection, now in temporary space near Air Canada’s gates.
Expanding John Wayne always is controversial.
Neighboring Newport Beach and Costa Mesa have signed off on the expansion and activist groups haven’t openly protested the project.
The next fight is likely to be over renewal of the airport’s operating agreement with neighboring cities by 2015.
The airport is known for its short runway of less than a mile, which limits the availability of nonstop flights. The runway also limits John Wayne’s international ambitions.
So far, Air Canada is doing one flight to Toronto in the hopes of landing travelers to Canada or those looking to transfer to European flights.
Airport officials hope to see other near international flights to Mexico, Central America and elsewhere in Canada.
Irvine teams with former airport foes - OC Register
City leaders have agreed to join a coalition of cities affected by air traffic at John Wayne Airport, putting aside long-simmering tension with those who backed failed plans to bring a commercial airport to the now-shuttered El Toro airbase.
The Irvine City Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to join neighboring communities in the Corridor Cities Coalition, which is working with the county to extend a settlement agreement limiting John Wayne Airport's impact on surrounding areas.
Irvine is the sixth city to join the coalition, which also includes Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Tustin, Orange and Anaheim. The coalition is seeking to block any expansion of the airport past its current footprint, any new runways, or changes to current noise restrictions.
The existing John Wayne Airport settlement agreement runs until 2016, although former Newport Beach Mayor Tom Edwards told the Irvine council that county leaders had signaled an interest in re-negotiating the settlement during 2011.
"There is going to be demand from the business standpoint, and you have to balance that," Edwards said. "But environmental quality for Orange County is extremely important."
Website Editor: Irvine and the other South County cities that comprised the anti-El Toro ETRPA coalition supported Measure F that would have limited the expansion of JWA unless two-thirds of voters approved a change. Newport Beach insisted that Orange County needed more aviation capacity (at El Toro).
JWA traffic up in March, the final month of its off-peak 2009-2010 "plan year"
John Wayne airport served 736,104 passengers in March, 3.2 percent more than in March 2009.
The airport operates on an April 1 to March 31 "access control plan year". For the 2009-2010 plan year just completed, JWA served 8.8 million passengers. The previous year saw 8.6 million passengers. Before that, the airport peaked at close to 9.9 million.
Under the agreement between the county and Newport Beach, plan year passenger volume is restricted to 10.3 million annual passengers, the current MAP cap..
Irvine city officials consider joining airport coalition - OC Metro
The group aims to ensure quality-of-life issues for businesses and residents near JWA.
The Irvine City Council on Tuesday will consider joining a coalition of cities that includes Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana in supporting measures aimed at capping noise and other negative impacts resulting from operations at John Wayne Airport.
With the proximity of the Irvine Business Complex and a number of other commercial and residential properties near the airport, the city has a vested interest in airport regulations.
“As the city and county continue to grow, impacts from JWA, such as traffic and noise, may grow as well,” wrote Irvine Senior Management Analyst Pamela Baird in a staff report for the City Council. “Air transportation demand in the county and the Southern California region exceeds supply, and that shortfall is likely to grow over time. These impacts have the possibility of adversely impacting the quality of life and long-term interests of Irvine residents.”
Airport execs still look to land airline - San Bernardino Sun
The effort to transform the former Norton Air Force Base into a commercial airport is a gamble of more than $200 million that may well determine if San Bernardino can rediscover prosperity. Success would mean domestic and international flights landing and taking off from San Bernardino International Airport. It would mean travelers spending money at local hotels and restaurants. It would mean a busy airport employing well-paid professionals like air traffic controllers and aircraft mechanics.
Failure would likely result in continued economic stagnation. The city's economy never fully recovered from the job losses that accompanied the closure of Norton, and airport supporters say passenger travel would be the best way to reignite the economic engine that once was there.
But the hundreds of millions that have been spent on runway, terminal and road improvements in and around the airport are not enough in themselves to guarantee success. No commercial carriers have yet announced plans to do business in San Bernardino, and any airline doing so in the near future would also be taking a gamble at a time when their own industry and the Inland Empire economy are suffering.
"Where are you going to get the new airlines? Airlines already serve Ontario and Los Angeles," said Jack Keady, a former American Airlines marketing executive who now has a Playa del Rey-based travel and airline consulting company.
Week of April 5 - April 11, 2010
[Burbank] Passenger numbers drop - Burbank Leader
The number of passengers using Bob Hope Airport dropped in February, erasing the slight increase in January that officials had hoped would end a yearlong decline, according to figures released this week.
Continued consumer uncertainty and a winter storm on the East Coast that canceled flights likely contributed to the decline, said Victor Gill, a spokesman for the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.
“You’re still seeing a continuation of the well-known economic hard times,” Gill said.
Passenger traffic was down 4.9% from February 2009, with combined traffic for the first two months of 2010 down 1.6%, according to airport records.
OC-Hawaii flights to go up, then go on hiatus - OC Register
When the airline started service between John Wayne Airport and Hawaii in March, Continental announced it would provide daily service to Honolulu and four-times-a-week service to Kahului on Maui. The Maui service would become daily on May 31.
What wasn't announced at the time — but was evidently part of the plan all along — was that Continental will stop service temporarily Sept. 12. No flights to Honolulu for two months. No flights to Maui for three months.
Continental will start flying again during the usually lucrative holiday season. The Honolulu flights will re-start Nov. 20, just in time for the Thanksgiving season.
O.C.-to-Canada flights start - OC Register
"Service to Canada will be popular with Orange County travelers, and we are excited to add a new nonstop destination to our offerings," said Jenny Wedge, airport spokeswoman.
A search online found round-trip flights starting at more than $1,000 in coming days, although fares around $500 started popping up on trips in late April. Best deals require a 14-day advance purchase and are a midweek departure and return.
In contrast, direct weekend flights costing slightly more than $500 are offered by multiple airlines at Los Angeles International Airport, with a one-week advance purchase. For travelers willing to take a connecting flight at LAX or JWA, weekend flights under $500 are abundant.
Customs for all Orange County-Toronto flights will be handled in Canada for the time-being, but John Wayne will gain international-screening capabilities when it completes a terminal expansion in 2011.
New JWA flight path may lessen noise - OC Register
Starting Thursday, some planes taking off from John Wayne Airport will fly about a football field’s distance west of their current route, if the Federal Aviation Administration’s new flight procedure works as intended.
The FAA changed the route after discovering that a worker had incorrectly entered the altitude where planes are required to turn — a “minor charting error” — an FAA spokesman said.
The revised changes should make the flights slightly less noisy for residents on the east side of Upper Newport Bay, while the general flying public probably won’t notice a change.
Week of March 29 - April 4, 2010
Long Beach Airport modernization on track - Press-Telegram
After years of delay brought on by political and legal wrangling, work is under way on a $136-million, multiyear modernization project at Long Beach Airport, the facility's first redevelopment in decades.
Construction, which began in earnest this month with work on a $49-million parking garage, is expected to rapidly improve vehicle traffic flow and parking while easing passenger congestion in and around the historic art deco property.
Work comes nearly a year after the California Fourth District Court of Appeals upheld an expansion environmental impact report, which had been challenged by the Long Beach Parent-Teacher Association. The organization sued the city out of concern the project would unreasonably increase noise and pollution levels by causing a spike in passenger volumes.
Keep asking questions about the Great Park - OC Register letters
Website Editor: The Register has been asking questions about the Great Park and political donations from GP contractors. In a series of Op-Ed exchanges, we picked up this interesting comment from Robert Loewen, President, Lincoln Club of Orange County about a subject that once was so passionate..
While Mr. Agran is calling other people names about being “pro-airport” – which, by the way, is so last century – perhaps he can explain to the people of Irvine how it is that, in over a decade of spending millions on public relations, he has failed to remove even one square foot of the runways at the former Marine Base at El Toro.
