May 27 - June 3, 2012
Bullet train faces new legal challenges - LA Times
Central Valley farmers and Madera County file an environmental lawsuit, and O.C. transit officials urge the state to suspend the project.
Central Valley farm groups filed a major environmental lawsuit Friday against the California bullet train project, while Orange County transportation leaders urged state officials to shelve the $68-billion proposal until improvements can be made to the existing passenger rail system.
The Orange County Transportation Authority board questioned the project's claims of profitability, its ambitious construction schedule and what officials characterized as a speculative finance plan that may never secure enough money to build even the first sections the 520-mile network.
Board members wrote that the state would be better off improving conventional passenger service and filling holes in current rail corridors before more work is done on the 200-mph system between San Francisco and Los Angeles, with an eventual spur to Anaheim.
Website Editor: This website supported the high speed rail project back when regional planning authorities projected that we would run out of existing airport capacity and would be forced to utilize inconveniently situated runways in Palmdale and the Inland Empire. The world has changed in recent years and local airports are operating well below their physical capacity.
Meanwhile, projected costs for the rail project have climbed and obstacles have multiplied. Projects like the high speed rail line should be reevaluated in light of changing needs. The rail line, as presented, and in this time of tight finances and airport underutilization, does not appear to be economically justified.
A good time to be JWA - OC Register Travel
Officials aren't ready to rename it John Wayne International Airport just yet, but Sunday the once-tiny local airport sandwiched between Los Angeles and San Diego will serve the three biggest countries in North America. AirTran Flight 26 is scheduled to arrive June 3 from Mexico City at 4:12 p.m. If all goes as planned, its passengers will disembark their Boeing 737 into a secured gate that will lead them to the lower level of Terminal C. There they will become the first people to pass through the airport's new Immigration and Customs Enforcement area. Later, a flight will arrive from Cabo San Lucas. Earlier in the day, AirTran jets will have departed John Wayne Airport for Cabo and Mexico City.
Meanwhile, WestJet will have arrivals and departures to Vancouver and Calgary. Under an innovative agreement between Canada and the U.S., passengers coming to Orange County go through U.S. customs in Canada and get off the jets just as though they were arriving from Portland or Phoenix.
Like a lot of airports around the country, the economy has provided plenty of turbulence at JWA since 2007. There are spots at the ticketing counter left vacant by airlines that dropped Orange County routes or left altogether. During boom times, the airport had a waiting list of five to six airlines interested in starting service. Today the number is zero.
The overall reality remains that John Wayne Airport is easily the most pleasant airport experience in Southern California. LAX is an antiquated monster with nightmare traffic. Ontario has become the airport equivalent of a ghost town, with few destination options. Long Beach's once-cute art deco terminal is now bursting at the seams, and its future is dangerously tied to the fate of one airline, JetBlue.
More . . .
JWA posts April passenger stats; almost flat for year
John Wayne Airport
Monthly Airport
Statistics
- April 2012
|
|
April |
April |
% Change |
YTD |
YTD |
% Change |
||
|
Total passengers |
727,523 |
722,815 |
0.7% |
2,696,977 |
2,706,436 |
-0.3% |
||
|
Enplaned passengers |
366,687 |
364,545 |
0.6% |
1,346,302 |
1,350,036 |
-0.3% |
||
|
Deplaned passengers |
360,836 |
358,270 |
0.7% |
1,350,675 |
1,356,400 |
-0.4% |
||
|
Air Cargo Tons* |
1,518 |
1,389 |
9.3% |
5,590 |
4,985 |
12.1% |
||
|
Total Aircraft Operations |
21,861 |
22,352 |
-2.2% |
84,324 |
84,833 |
-0.6% |
||
|
General Aviation Operations |
15,025 |
15,419 |
-2.6% |
57,412 |
57,371 |
0.1% |
||
|
Commercial Aircraft Operations |
6,584 |
6,639 |
-0.8% |
25,908 |
26,189 |
-1.1% |
||
|
Commuter Aircraft Operations |
219 |
287 |
-23.7% |
855 |
1,240 |
-31.0% |
||
|
Military Operations |
33 |
7 |
371.4% |
149 |
33 |
351.5% |
||
|
||||||||
Obstacles Could Delay Airport SNA’s Passenger Growth - John Wayne Airport.org
The latest improvements at Orange County Airport SNA are not making a major impact on passenger traffic to the Orange County hub. Statistic from April 2012 show 4700 more passengers departed and arrived at John Wayne Airport than in April 2011. This was a .7 percent increase than the previous year. Yet 55 fewer commercial carriers landed at the airport than the previous year.
Nonetheless, Airport SNA’s growth could be delayed by several factors. Orange County Airport’s 2010 – 2011 construction project transpired at a time when several major airlines were consolidating or trying to fend off bankruptcy.
Direct flights to Vancouver and Calgary helped John Wayne Airport maintain its international status, When Southwest Airlines acquired AirTran, Airport SNA landed two additional flights to its international flight schedule: Cabo San Lucas and Mexico City, while some domestic flights were cut.
Fuel costs. Across the nation, major carriers continue to streamline flight schedules to offset skyrocketing fuel prices. These consolidated flights could reduce the number of departure and arrivals at any airport.
No evening flights. Another factor which may prevent Orange County Airport from fattening its flight schedule is that the commercial carriers have to abide by a daytime arrival and departure limitation to appease local residents, who have been vocal about Airport SNA noise.
For several years, many Orange County residents have been in contention over Airport SNA’s noise. The ongoing debate could hinder Orange County Airport from providing evening flights and potentially its growth.
May 14 - May 20, 2012
Bill gives LA 60 days to give up Ontario - Press-Enterprise
The city of Los Angeles would have 60 days to hand off Ontario International Airport to a local authority or risk losing its Federal Aviation Administration funding, under legislation introduced Friday, May 18, by Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto.
Baca said he penned the bill after growing frustrated over LAWA's failure to arrive at an arrangement to shift control of the airport into local hands.
"It just seems like there's a lot of delay tactics," he said Friday. "We've been doing this for almost a year and a half now."
Pending state legislation held up in committee would create a local airport authority, and two of Baca's Republican colleagues have reached out to
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood directly. The city of Ontario and San Bernardino County, meanwhile, have launched a campaign to "SetONTarioFree,"
rallying Southern California municipalities to support the effort to put a local authority in charge of the airport.
Website Editor: Ontario has yet to produce a convincing plan for what it would do differently to turn around the airport under local control.
Inland officials confront LA airports chief - The Press Enterprise
Why, Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge asked LA World Airports chief Gina Marie Lindsey. Why would you want to keep a business that’s lost 34 percent of its customers — and isn’t going to bounce back for 23 years — when you’ve got a $50 million offer for it on the table?
Lindsey’s answer during a panel discussion Wednesday, May 16, at the Four Corners Coalition summit in Diamond Bar [was] because of the way LAWA structured terminal rents and fees, ONT doesn’t lose money, Lindsey said. No matter how many airlines leave, the remaining airlines must pick up the tab. A “self-correcting formula,” she called it. (Self-defeating, [the PE reporter] called it. The more it costs airlines to use ONT, the more likely they are to pull out.)
More . . .
LA’s pitches to improve Ontario don’t fly - The Press-Enterprise
Valet parking and VIP lounges are among the latest suggestions and strategies offered by the city of Los Angeles to best boost traffic at its Ontario International Airport.
But few, if any, of those ideas have taken off since Los Angeles World Airports began pitching them in 2008 when traffic began to plummet.
Shuttles to Disneyland, a discount for airlines and a proposal to farm out Ontario airport’s management to someone else have all been brought up by consultants hired by the LA public agency that owns and operates LAX and the Ontario and Van Nuys airports. None have been implemented.
Spreading air traffic to LAWA’s other Southern California airports isn’t a charitable goal for the agency. Los Angeles has been bound by a 2005 legal settlement with the neighborhoods surrounding LAX that opposed expansion at that airport.
In his presentation, Consultant Shelswell-White made conceptual suggestions that Ontario could re-brand itself, boost revenue and compete with John Wayne Airport in Orange County by offering features that would appeal to travelers with higher-end tastes such as valet parking, reserved parking or a club lounge.
The board has heard suggestions for years.
There was the idea to divert Disneyland visitors to the Inland airport with airfare rebates, shuttle rides to the theme parks and even early admission to encourage fliers to go to Ontario instead of John Wayne Airport in Orange County.
Los Angeles World Airports hired Peggy Ducey, who developed the Disneyland plan, to be the agency’s “regionalization coordinator” in July 2009 to come up with a strategy. Two years later she submitted a report but no action was ever taken.
May 7 - May 13, 2012
Threats made to 2 Southwest flights with ties to O.C., Phoenix - LA Times
Two Southwest Airlines flights with ties to Orange County and Phoenix were stopped Tuesday night after threats were made to the planes.
The first incident began about 7:30 p.m. after flight 1184 arrived at Sky Harbor International Airport from John Wayne Airport, the FBI said.
The plane was taken to an isolated area of the airport after authorities received an unspecified threat, said Special Agent Manuel Johnson of the FBI's Phoenix division.
He said the plane was searched, passengers were screened again and the flight was cleared. It was headed to Tulsa, Okla.
About an hour later, Southwest flight 811 at John Wayne Airport was taken to an isolation area after authorities received a bomb threat, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
Lt. Joe Balicki told The Times the "phone threat was received by an outside agency." "It was preparing to take off," he said. The flight was bound for Phoenix.
Bomb squad members searched the plane Tuesday night but found no explosive device.
With American Airlines gone, airport sees continued revenue drop - Burbank Leader
In the first full month since American Airlines pulled out of Bob Hope Airport, parking revenues at the airfield fell by 8.6% in March, officials reported this week.
While the drop is steeper than what the airport has seen in recent months, airport Executive Director Dan Feger said there are signs of a turnaround.
Preliminary parking-revenue numbers for April are showing improvement, Feger said, projecting a less severe drop of 3%.
Parking fees, which make up about 40% of the airport's operating revenues, were more than $1.5 million in March, compared to about $1.6 million in March 2011.
Passenger numbers dropped by about 6% in March compared to March 2011, according to a report released to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. The decline was below budget projections.
Los Angeles agency mulls re-branding Ontario - Riverside Press Enterprise
Ontario International Airport needs to re-brand itself and the Los Angeles agency that owns and operates it should do more to win over Inland residents
who have been swayed by a campaign calling for local control of the airport, said a consultant hired by the agency.
Los Angeles World Airports hired Edward Shelsell-White, a senior director with Aloft Aviation Consulting, to propose a re-branding strategy for the airport, much like a private company would remake its image to appeal to customers.
"We believe . there is indifference to the brand - not hostility, indifference," he said at a meeting Monday afternoon of Los Angeles World Airport's board of airport commissioners.
To overcome indifference, Shelsell-White said, LAWA needs to counter a vision created by the city of Ontario. He said the city has painted a picture of an airport on the brink of closing unless Los Angeles gives it up to an Inland airport authority.
He also recommended that the Los Angeles agency appeal to the airlines that don't see Ontario as good for business. To make airlines more financially
comfortable at Ontario, Shelsell-White suggested that LAWA suspend a $4.50-per-passenger facility charge that's passed on to each traveler.
It costs airlines about $12 per passenger - not including the $4.50 - to do business at the airport, a cost criticized by the city of Ontario as too high compared to other Southern California airports.
During discussion of the proposal at the meeting, Valerie Velasco, a LAWA commissioner, told Shelsell-White that she has a relative and friends living in Claremont and Redlands who have regularly driven to LAX because they can choose from more flights and pay less.
"It's so often worth it for people to drive to LAX for a cheaper airfare," she said.
Lowering fares would be no small challenge, Shelsell-White said, but it might be able to cater to people accustomed to higher-end amenities - travelers that might otherwise choose John Wayne Airport.
LAWA board criticizes plan to better market LA/Ontario International Airport -The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
A marketing plan that was supposed to address the steep decline in passenger traffic at LA/Ontario International Airport was criticized by Los Angeles
World Airports' governing body Monday.
The proposal, which looked at rebranding ONT as a high-end facility, was met with criticism from the commission.
After more than an hour discussing the plan, the board directed staff to continue to research marketing strategies for ONT and come back with a report.
Monday's discussion was in response to a request made by the commission in late December after the departure of a LAWA employee who handled the
marketing for medium-hub facility.
Ontario officials - who are fighting to regain control of ONT - say the airport has been hemorrhaging passengers at the expense of its operator, which has neglected to market the medium-hub facility to airlines.
LAWA officials have said ONT's situation is not unique, with 30 other medium-hub airports in the United States experiencing similar declines.
The board also asked White and LAWA to do more research on the driving factors affecting ONT.
April 30 - May 6, 2012
Los Angeles International Airport has been named the second worst airport in America by the readers of Travel + Leisure magazine. - CBS
The magazine’s first-ever airport survey asked its readers to rate 22 major airports in seven categories: flight delays, design, amenities, food and drink, check-in and security, service and transportation and location.
LAX was ranked at the bottom of most of the survey’s categories – 20th for location, 21st for check-in and security process and 22nd for impression of safety standards. The airport also scored 20th for baggage handling, 21st for staff communication and 21st for terminal cleanliness.
Only one airport was considered worse than LAX – New York’s La Guardia Airport.
John Wayne, Bob Hope, Long Beach and Ontario Airports were not included in the survey.
JWA continues with soft 2012
Airline
passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport decreased in March 2012 as
compared to
March 2011. In March 2012, the Airport served 727,841 passengers,
a
decrease of 1.8% when compared to the March 2011 passenger traffic
count of
741,489.
Commercial aircraft operations decreased 3.5%, while Commuter aircraft operations decreased 34.6% when compared to the levels recorded in March 2011.
