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May 31, 2007

City Council approves Lindsey to run airports -
LA Times

The City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved Gina Marie Lindsey as the executive director of the city's airports agency, which operates Los Angeles
International Airport and facilities in Van Nuys, Ontario and Palmdale.

Lindsey was formerly the aviation director of the Seattle-Tacoma Airport and a director at Anchorage International Airport. In Seattle, she helped guide a controversial $4.1-billion renovation of the facility.



May 30, 2007

LAWA posts LAX, ONT results for April

Los Angeles World Airports posted April passenger traffic for Los Angeles International and LA/Ontario airports.

LAX traffic was up 1.7 percent for the month of April over the same period in 2006. The total 2007 year-to-date passenger increase is 1.8 percent with the gain coming in domestic traffic. International travel is down 0.9 percent.

Ontario posted a small decrease in April and for the year-to-date traffic is down 1.3 percent compared to the first four months of 2006.

We previously reported strong increases in April traffic at Long Beach and Orange County airports.



May 29, 2007

Airline ticket: $10; pillow: $15
- LA Times
Ultra-low-cost carriers cut freebies to keep fares low. Some flight attendants are paid partly on commission.

Try $10 for a one-way ticket from Burbank to Columbus, Ohio. Or $9 from Los Angeles International Airport to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Better yet, there is a 1-cent fare for flights from LAX to Guatemala.

Yes, those are actual fares offered by a new generation of carriers that are redefining budget travel by taking "low-cost, no-frills" service to new heights.

Such as $15 for a pillow. Or two bucks for water. Don't want a middle seat? You can pay $10 and you can jump ahead of the line to board a Skybus Airlines plane.

These flights have been around Europe for several years, but they are now making a splash in the U.S.




May 28, 2007

Schedule for transit center to be set
- OC Register

The Orange County Transportation Authority board is scheduled Tuesday to set the time frame for the long-stalled
Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, or ARTIC, a planned regional station where 15 transportation modes could flow in to serve the county and beyond. Commuters could grab a bus, trolley, taxi or train from a centralized transportation hub within the next eight years.

Phase 1 includes ground connections from Anaheim to Ontario Airport.

Soon after, visitors also could jump on a people mover to zoom to the Disneyland area or John Wayne Airport.

By 2020, tourists could hop on a magnetic levitation that eventually would shoot to Las Vegas in less than 90 minutes.


Getting ready for flying cars - Daily Bulletin.com

If driving on California's hectic freeways has frazzled your nerves to the point of near breakdown, and traveling by airplane makes your hair turn whiter than your knuckles, you'd better sit down for this one.

NASA has been working out the traffic patterns for when our vehicles are ready to take flight.

Several companies and inventors are working diligently to make a flying vehicle more than just NASA's pipe dream for the new millennium. In fact, one company, LaBiche, will unveil the prototype for its ($175,000) FSC-1 (Flying Sports Car No. 1) in September at the Aerotech Convention in Los Angeles.

Website Editor: OK SCAG, try to factor that into your regional airport plan for 2035.



May 26, 2007

Palmdale Bets Airport Will Take Off San Fernando Valley Business Journal

United Airlines begins daily service next month between Palmdale and San Francisco in what may be the last chance to bring scheduled commercial air service to the Antelope Valley.

What is different this time from when United last offered flights out of Palmdale in 1998 is a change in demographics and economics of the Antelope Valley, more congestion on freeways linking the valley with other, larger airports and an unprecedented commitment by Los Angeles World Airports to make it work.

“This is a critical opportunity to establish air service and prove there is a market here,” said Mark Thorpe, air service marketing director with LAWA.

The key to the success of the air service lies in the corporate traveler on a tight schedule who is willing to trade a commute down to LAX or Bob Hope Airport in Burbank for a 70-minute flight to San Francisco and from there the rest of the country or the world.

Data from travel agencies revealed that up to 30 percent of travelers from the Antelope Valley booked premium seats – first class, business class or the costly walk-up fare.

Bringing scheduled service to Palmdale helps meet the larger goal of regionalizing the airports of the greater Los Angeles area to more evenly distribute traffic, taking the burden off LAX.

Website Editor: This writer fails to see how a couple of flights per day takes any meaningful "burden off LAX." Palmdale passengers are more likely to divert from Burbank, not LA.



May 25, 2007

Millions hit the roads and airports
- Yahoo.com

Southern California air travelers experienced some delays at the start of the holiday weekend while aviation officials dealt with a partial aircraft-surveillance radar outage in San Diego.

The TRACON radar facility that handles incoming aircraft for 21 airports in the region was down from around 5:30 until 6:20 this morning. Some incoming aircraft at LAX, John Wayne, San Diego, Long Beach and other airports were held back.




May 24, 2007

Long Beach airport traffic rebounds
- El Toro Info Site report

Long Beach airport, which has seen its traffic volume slide with the departure of American Airlines, rebounded in April. Passenger totals for the month were up 9.1 percent from the previous year.

Year-to-date passengers are now 0.8 percent ahead of the same four month period in 2005. JetBlue and Alaska Airlines accounted for the turnaround.

The increase was achieved the same way as at John Wayne Airport - by airlines providing more flights. The number of airline landings at LGB has increased by 14.2 percent this year.


[SB] Airport moving toward takeoff; Officials OK plan to update terminal - San Bernardino Sun

First the crumbling, 10,000-foot runway was rebuilt. Now it's time to modernize the terminal building.

San Bernardino International Airport officials on Wednesday set in motion a $38 million project to bring the 66,000-square-foot terminal building up to today's standards.

The runway can now accommodate the largest cargo and passenger aircraft in the world, including the new Airbus A380, which can carry 520 passengers.

But getting these planes to the airport has been elusive. Loma Linda Mayor Robert Christman, who is vice president of the airport board and a pilot said, "Getting a commercial airline in here is a dream that I have had for years, but it has not happened."



May 23, 2007

Summer travelers, expect delays at Los Angeles airports
- LA Times

Officials at the region's airports say passengers should plan for crowded terminals and steep fares between Memorial and Labor days.

Flying this summer will be no picnic, given that area airports predict higher fares on some flights and fuller airplanes.

Los Angeles International Airport expects its busiest summer season since 2001, and facilities in Burbank, Ontario, Long Beach, and Santa Ana are also forecasting big crowds.



Rise of the Iron Horses - Voice of San Diego op-ed by Gary Sutton
 
Warren Buffett is the smartest investor in the world. His latest moves show San Diego how to think about our airport. (He is investing in railroads as the number of domestic air carrier operations declines.)



SoCal airports rated close to but below average by J.D. Powers survey

The annual J.D. Power and Associates 2007 North America Airport Satisfaction Study rates LAX below the national average for large airports and Burbank, Orange County and Long Beach below average for airports handling less than 10 million annual passengers.



May 22, 2007

JWA having a good year

For the four months ending April 30, John Wayne airport passenger volume was 6.3 percent ahead of the same period in 2006. The result was achieved through a 7.8 percent increase in the number of air carrier operations.

If the year continues at this pace, the airport may top 10 million annual passengers. It has a negotiated limit of 10.3 MAP.



$38 million to pay for LA airport runway safety, noise reduction - The Associated Press

The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded a $29.6 million grant to help pay for construction a new taxiway to improve runway safety at Los Angeles International Airport.

The new taxiway will run parallel between the two runways on the airport's south side and is part of an effort to improve safety by reducing the potential for so-called runway incursions, the FAA said Monday.

The space for the taxiway was created by moving one runway 55 feet farther south, a project to which the FAA previously contributed $68 million. The taxiway will be completed in June 2008.

The FAA also said it gave grants totaling $8 million to Los Angeles County and the city of El Segundo, which lies south of the airport, to pay for soundproofing of neighboring homes. The work will be done on about 258 homes in Lennox, a county territory, and about 120 homes in El Segundo.




May 21, 2007

Website Editor is back on the job

I flew to and from Europe this month and have this observation.

When connecting between domestic and international flights at a big airport, it stinks to have to exit the secure area, change terminals and then go back through security again. My wife an I did this drill twice at Newark Airport, connecting between our John Wayne flights
that  used domestic terminal C and our overseas flights at international terminal B. The extra waiting line, shoe removal, bagging of liquids and gels, discarding water bottles and the like is just what a weary traveler needs while rushing to make a connection. At Rome's Fiumocino airport we were able to connect between domestic and international planes without leaving the "sterile" area.

Catching up on Southern California news, we note the following:

Los Angeles World Airports has a new chief, Gina Marie Lindesy who calls fixing up LAX "a priority". She oversaw the expansion of Anchorage and Seattle airports. The latter project entailed a major years-long fight with the neighbors.

LAX has a very serious close call as two aircraft came within 21 feet of each other on the runway according to one estimate.

LAX also saw partial evacuations twice due to the discovery of what proved to be harmless items.

A judge dealt a blow to L.A.'s efforts to raise the fees it charges airlines.

Carlsbad airport will undergo some redevelopment and add flights to Las Vegas.

John Wayne Airport issued a report that it generates sufficient area business and jobs to produce $495 million in tax revenue.

Marty Bryant, who replaced Wally Kreutzen as CEO of the Great Park project will retire after only 6 months on the job.




May 6, 2007

Website taking some time off

We will stop posting news for the next two weeks . . . our first holiday in nearly ten years of reporting. For those who need a regular shot of airport news or commentary we suggest these alternatives:

Visit the OC Chronicles message board where activists continue to post articles about airports and the Great Park at El Toro.

Go to Skytrax to read what users have to say about our local airports and to add your own comments.

Visit the Department of Transportations Airline Traffic Data reports on May 10 when the Bureau of Transportation Statistics will publish its national data for February.

Browse our archive of news back to 1996 for stories you may have missed or just search the website for topics of interest.

Check out Abandoned and Little Know Airfields of California to learn about Westminster’s former 3-runway airstrip where Mile Square Park sits, Meadowlark Airport in Huntington Beach, enjoy old photos of Tustin and El Toro and much more of historical interest.

Ask the library for a copy of Professor Steven Erie’s 2004 book, Globalizing L.A. It includes a good history of the fight over LAX expansion and the retreat from Mayor Richard Riordan’s plan to expand the airport. Erie concludes “Southern California’s aspirations to become a leading export-based world trade center (rather than merely the nation’s top Pacific Rim’s import gateway) rest, in large measure, upon its uncertain airport future.”

We will be back later this month to report on that uncertain future and hope you rejoin us.




May 5, 2007

O.C. lacks nonstop service
– El Toro Info Site report

This website often laments the lack of nonstop service from John Wayne Airport to various cities to which Orange Countians might want to fly.

Other airports appear more inclined to expand the range of destinations available to their customers.

Today came an announcement from Lindbergh Field that it will soon offer “a 20 percent increase in destinations served from San Diego International Airport by non-stop flights.”

John Wayne Airport’s website lists non-stop service to 23 cities. A year ago the number was still 23. Two years ago in late April 2005 there were 25 non-stop destinations.  Detroit and Kansas City were dropped from the list and no place new and interesting has been added since.

It is difficult to believe that there is no O.C. demand for nonstop service to New York's JFK, Washington D.C., or any city in Florida. It seems plausible
to add such service, through negotiations with existing JWA carriers and the selective granting of additional seat allocations - while still not exceed the 10.3 MAP cap.


United to chop fares to Bay Area in [Palmdale] rollout - LA Daily News

Special fares starting next month were announced on Tuesday by United Airlines as it prepares to roll out service from the L.A./Palmdale Regional Airport terminal to the Bay Area.

Starting June 7, round-trip fares, on sale through May 22, include $170 for San Francisco, $248 for Portland, $254 for Denver, $268 for Seattle and $318 for Boston, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.


The $1 million question is: Will there be enough people to sustain the service?" said Mayor Jim Ledford. "I hope so."

Website Editor: United's service is being subsidized  with millions of dollars from Los Angeles World Airports and the City of Palmdale.


May 4, 2007

Airport board lobbies for two North County seats
- The San Diego North County Times

Airport officials Thursday voted unanimously to ask the senator who is working to reshape their board to rewrite a bill so North County would get two seats -- instead of one -- on the body that runs Lindbergh Field.

The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority board voted 8-0 to suggest that a reorganized board have one member each from coastal North County, inland North County, East County and South Bay.



San Jose to London? Not yet - airline chooses L.A. instead:

MAXjet bypasses Mineta Airport, at least for now - The San Jose Mercury News

MAXjet Airways, which had been in discussions with airport officials about introducing low-fare business-class service from San Jose to London, announced Thursday that it has selected Los Angeles International Airport for its West Coast route and will begin flying to London starting Aug. 30.

MAXjet will fly non-stop [to Stanstead Airport] from Los Angeles four times a week, with fares starting at $699 each way.



Go West, Young Fractional: AirShares Elite Expands To California
- Aero-News.Net


AirShares Elite told ANN this week about the opening of the shared ownership operaton's first West Coast-based operation, located in the metro Los Angeles area. AirShares Elite has selected the John Wayne-Orange County, Santa Monica, and Van Nuys airports to launch the western expansion of its popular aircraft shared ownership program.



May 3, 2007

Airport Commission Defies FAA Warning
- The Santa Monica LookOut

The City of Santa Monica and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) could be on a collision course after the Airport Commission last week voted
unanimously to cordon off nearly 1,200 feet of runway to enhance safety at Santa Monica Airport.

The resolution to restrict a larger part of the airstrip -- which could limit jet traffic -- comes nearly one month after some Airport Commissioners and City officials said they were "blindsided" by the FAA's suggestion that the City reduce by half the 900 feet of recommended safety area.

FAA officials said reserving larger safety zones would limit flights, particularly by jets, and therefore would not be allowed, because Santa Monica is seen as a critical reliever airport for nearby LAX.



May 1, 2007

It's not on Villaraigosa's trip agenda
- LA Times

L.A.'s mayor plans to discuss trade and gangs while in Mexico and El Salvador but knows to expect questions on immigration.

Nowhere on his itinerary is any mention of the largest point of contention between the United States and Mexico and Central America: the northward flow of illegal immigrants.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa embarks today on a nine-day mission to El Salvador and Mexico ostensibly to promote trade and coordinate the fight against violent international gangs.

He will urge the heads of Aero Mexico and Mexicana airlines to expand service to Ontario International Airport (he'll make the same pitch to Taca Airlines in San Salvador).




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