August 31, 2007
Busy Summer Air Travel Season Ends With Labor Day Weekend - LAWA media release
Los Angeles International Airport's (LAX) busy summer travel season concludes with the four-day Labor Day weekend. An estimated 825,000 travelers are expected to depart and arrive on flights at LAX from Friday, August 31 through Monday, Sept. 3, an increase of two percent over last year's Labor Day weekend.
Website Editor: This contradicts a forecast last week that LAX Labor Day weekend traffic was expected to decrease this year. The airport's rarely report the actual results after the fact.
At LAX, the year-over-year increase is largely due to record load factors and airlines adding LAX flights to their late summer schedules. New airlines also have started service at LAX, such as Virgin America with domestic service to New York and San Francisco, and MAXjet with service to London's Stansted Airport.
In the first seven months of calendar year 2007, LAX passenger traffic totaled 36,314,251, an increase of 1.5 percent over last year.
Lieu wants runway close calls at LAX curtailed immediately - Daily Breeze
FAA calls lawmaker's recommendation placing limits on flights from the airport unworkable.
In an effort to decrease the number of close calls between airplanes coming into and leaving Los Angeles International Airport, a South Bay state lawmaker suggested Thursday that the Federal Aviation Administration limit the number of flights at the nation's fourth-busiest hub.
In a letter to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-El Segundo, also recommended that flights be spaced further apart when taking off and landing at LAX, while also diverting some of the air traffic to other Southern California airports.
August 29, 2007
New air carrier making a difference at Ontario - El Toro Info Site report
Passenger traffic at Ontario Airport in July was 6.5% ahead of July 2006. The gain was largely attributable to passengers using new point-to-point carrier ExpressJet. The new airline accounted for 8.6% of passengers in and out of ONT in the month.
For the year, Ontario is 1.1% ahead of last year, with ExpressJet also more than making the difference.
Total traffic for all other air carriers was down in the month of July and in the year-to-date figures.
This is consistent with our prediction, made when the airline launched service in April, that ExpressJet's nonstop flights would capture passengers from other Ontario airlines that require stops or changes of aircraft to reach the same destinations. It remains to be seen whether the startup carrier will achieve the goal of "regionalizing" air travel which is the euphemism for taking traffic away from LAX.
Low-cost carriers add flights at LAX - Daily Breeze
Low-cost carriers are bulking up their presence at Los Angeles International Airport this week, and consumers may be able to come out ahead with low fares.
Beginning today, low-fare carrier Virgin America will offer two daily nonstop flights from LAX to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, with plans to add a third Sept. 16.
On Thursday,
all-business carrier MaxJet will launch transatlantic service from LAX
to London's Stansted Airport with introductory prices starting at $700
each way.
LA/Ontario International Airport Master Plan Scoping Meeting to Be Held September 5 - LAWA media release
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) will hold a scoping meeting for the proposed LA/Ontario International Airport (ONT) Master Plan project to solicit input from the public and various federal, state, and local agencies that have jurisdiction by law or have specific expertise with respect to any environmental impacts associated with the proposed projects.
Questions regarding the scoping meeting may be directed to City Planning Associate Eileen Schoetzow in the Regional Airports Planning Division at (310) 348-2573.
John Wayne Airport enjoys record summer - Daily Pilot
John Wayne Airport served a record-setting number of passengers in June and July this year and expects to top its mark for August as well, spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said Tuesday.
More than 900,000 people took flights from the airport in June and 913,000 in July, with both numbers all-time records for John Wayne. The airport’s benchmark for August is 899,900 passengers in 2005, and Wedge said she expected to top that total as well.
The airport is in the midst of a renovation that would add a third terminal, six gates, 2,500 parking spaces and more security screening checkpoints. The renovation would allow the airport to serve 10.8 million passengers a year.
Council working to protect residents from JWA effects - Daily Pilot Community Comment
Newport Beach City Council member Leslie Daigle provides an informative overview of the city's position regarding JWA. She writes:
With due respect to other issues of the day — the most important thing the Newport Beach City Council has done in the past, continues to do and must do in the future is to prevent the physical expansion of John Wayne Airport (JWA), while preserving the JWA Settlement Agreement and the existing noise curfew.
August 28, 2007
New LAX runway safety breach - LA Times
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a weekend runway safety breach at LAX in what apparently was the second such incident at the airport in less than two weeks, officials said Monday.
The latest episode, which occurred shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday, involved two Boeing 737s at the north airfield of Los Angeles International Airport.
Officials said a Continental plane that had arrived from Newark, N.J., crossed the so-called hold bars where it was supposed to stop on its runway. The aircraft, Flight 1502, apparently encroached into the runway area of an American Airlines plane, Flight 1254, that was leaving for Miami.
August 27, 2008
Air travel will be hard work well past Labor Day - LA Times
Starting Wednesday, nearly 16 million passengers, up 2.6% from last year,are expected to jam airports to get away for the long holiday weekend, capping the worst season for air travelers in recent memory.
There is a silver lining for Southern California travelers flying during the Labor Day holiday. LAX might not get as busy as last year, travel site Orbitz said.
LAX, which was the nation's busiest over Labor Day 2006, fell to eighth among the major airports with the most booked tickets so far for Labor Day as more passengers chose to fly out of nearby airports in Burbank, Long Beach and Orange County.
Website Editor: Last year's forecasts for summer travel fell flat so we'll have to wait and see.
August 26, 2007
Airport noise debate continues - Daily Pilot
Eastbluff residents and homeowners are complaining about the noise coming from John Wayne Airport.
Homeowners in Eastbluff have started to voice their complaints. Jock Marlo, president of the Eastbluff Homeowners Community Assn., has received at least a half-dozen complaints from residents over the last several months concerning increased noise from flights taking off directly over the neighborhood’s 460 homes.
Airport officials attribute the possibility of changed takeoff paths to changes in weather and outside forces pilots simply need to be ready for.
City Councilman Don Webb said,“We’ve had exceptionally hot weather and people have their windows open more.”
While speculating about the possible reasons residents have noticed more noise, Webb said he has not personally heard any complaints over the last few months.
Drawing a line in the sand - LA Times
Westchester residents say LAX shouldn't encroach on them to shift northern runway.
Westchester, a middle-class Los Angeles community has long had a love-hate relationship with the nation's fifth-busiest passenger airport.
Neighbors who travel a lot delight in being just a hop away from the giant transportation gateway. But others remember how the neighborhood had to give up 4,500 homes when the airport expanded in the 1970s.
[S.B.] Airport authority returns to airlines option - Riverside Press-Enterprise
When a Texas developer presented a proposal to redevelop the former Norton Air Force Base, local officials thought they had found the key to replacing the jobs that vanished when the military shuttered the base 15 years ago.
But seven years later, the plan . . . which originally called for turning San Bernardino International Airport into a multiuse cargo hub complete with railroad and air components has brought far fewer jobs than existed there when the Air Force had the property.
Now airport officials have switched gears again and are focusing on turning the former base into a passenger airport in a bid to recoup the rest of the lost jobs.
Some critics, however, question whether officials' efforts will succeed.
Don Rogers, the airport's interim director, said he is confident the airport can attract an airline eventually, despite critics who point to stagnant traffic growth at LA/Ontario International Airport -- only about 20 miles away.
Website Editor: SCAG forecasts a 9 MAP airport if Maglev can be built to San Bernardino.
August 24, 2007
FAA chief says LAX airfield must change - LA Times
In her strongest comments to date, Federal Aviation Administration chief Marion Blakey said Thursday it's imperative that the north runways at Los Angeles International Airport be moved farther apart before tragedy strikes.
"Get the north airfield project done," Blakey said at a luncheon at the LAX Marriott sponsored by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. "It's an issue of safety and efficiency and economic competitiveness."
The north airfield consists of two parallel runways; the one closest to LAX terminals handles flights that are landing, while the one farthest away handles takeoffs. They are about 700 feet apart.
Blakey told the audience that she views LAX as a facility that was once a "crown jewel" of the nation's airports but now is in need of renovation and safety fixes.
Outgoing FAA chief: `Fix the airfield now' at LAX - Daily Breeze
The outgoing head of the Federal Aviation Administration urged business leaders Thursday to "get going" and express their opinions about modernizing Los Angeles International Airport, but some saw her comments as a thinly veiled effort to support expansion.
Denny Schneider, president of the Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion, said that Blakey's speech was "a call for action to expand LAX."
"We're vehemently opposed to that, and I wish she would have called for regionalization instead," Schneider said.
Following her speech, Blakey told reporters that bulking up other Southern California airports to share LAX's burden is viable, but that "LAX is still going to be a crown jewel in that system."
Councilman Bill Rosendahl, county Supervisor Don Knabe and Rep. Jane Harman, D-El Segundo, sent a letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday, urging him to use his "considerable political and personal skills" to develop a plan that would share air traffic with other regional airports.
August 23, 2007
Long Beach airport having a positive year
Long Beach Airport served 283,184 passengers in July. It was not a record month but the result was good enough to put the airport 4.9% ahead of its 2006 rate, for the seven months year-to-date.
JetBlue accounted for 79% of this year's traffic.
An extra $1 million, but balloon has gotten 12,000 riders - Irvine World News
The Great Park Balloon launched 40 days ago, drawing thousands of riders for a birdseye view of the former El Toro Marine base. The project hasn’t been glitch-free: final construction details are 13 days behind schedule, and the 15-acre site is $1 million over the original budget.
August 22, 2007
Study suggests curfew at Bob Hope - Glendale News Press
A curfew on departures at Bob Hope Airport might bring the most benefit to nearby residents while causing the fewest adverse effects on passenger airlines and cargo carriers.
That was the message of preliminary findings from an airport study into ways to reduce aircraft-related noise, discussed Monday at a Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority meeting.
The ongoing airport study hopes to make a case to the Federal Aviation Administration that aircraft noise near the airport is enough of a problem to require an exception to national policy [the 1990 Aircraft Noise and Capacity Act].
Airport group wants addition - The Glendale (CA) News Press
The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority will submit a proposal to the city of Burbank to build two buildings at Bob Hope Airport to comply with a federal mandate to alleviate security concerns and ease congestion in Terminal B, officials said.
But any talk of adding buildings to the airport evokes the airport authority's development agreement with the city of Burbank, established in January 2005 to govern airport expansion [and prohibit any additions for 10 years.]
Though a new building for inspecting baggage would likely not be allowed under the terms of the development agreement, a federal mandate puts the proposal in a different category.
August 21, 2007
Rationing seats at John Wayne Airport - OC Business Journal, Viewpoint
Website Editor Len
Kranser writes, While the public's attention was riveted on the heated
political battle over el Toro a few years back, quieter actions were
being taken to seal the future of the county's existing airport. Orange County
businesses and travelers never got to vote on plans to ration seats at
John Wayne Airport. Now, Orange
County is in a box. On one hand, voters rejected an El Toro
airport, in part because they expected John Wayne to grow and keep up
with the county’s growing population. The
originally version submitted to the newspaper was shortened
slightly for publication. Click for more
background on John Wayne Airport capacity restrictions.
On the other
hand, the county gave up its chance to maximize
utilization of John Wayne by extending its agreement with Newport Beach
until 2015 and commencing to fill up the available space at the airport
with what may not be the optimally designed terminal.
L.A. City airport commissioners decided Monday to go ahead with a sixth study of whether the north runways at Los Angeles International Airport are too close together, and if so, what to do about it.
A group of five studies released earlier this year concluded that the two parallel runways are too close and suggested moving the northernmost runway. Community activists fear the new study will dovetail with its predecessors and set in motion a process to push the northernmost runway -- and the resulting noise and pollution -- at least 340 feet toward Westchester and busy Lincoln Boulevard.
The vote on the study proposal, which has been under consideration for some time, came just days after another near-collision on the ground at LAX's north airfield.
Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the area north of LAX, has on several occasions told community members that the north runway would be moved toward Westchester "over my dead body."
More from thje Daily Breeze. . .
August 20, 2007
Palm Springs Airport has another record month
Palm Springs airport had its biggest July, enjoying another in a long unbroken string of record months.
The airport will be adding eight additional gates as management seeks to provide travelers with more flight options to more destinations without the need to drive to Los Angeles.
August 19, 2007
Suddenly, LAX expansion is back on the table - Los Angeles Daily News Opinion
Last week was a bad one for Los Angeles International Airport. Two customs computer glitches shut down the international terminal,radiating travel trouble across the globe. Then, on Thursday, two commercial jets came within ball-tossing distance of smashing into one another.
These two stories might not seem related, but in fact they are: The glitch and the close call are all solid indications of how LAX is operating at sometimes dangerously high capacity. Yet, in the middle of the week, City Hall quietly picked up an old, controversial plan to expand LAX.
There's no question that operations and facilities at LAX need upgrading. Reconstruction of the airport is important, but expansion is not.
Of course, despite a decade of study and political manipulation that cost tens of millions of dollars, no one in City Hall has ever dared call what they're doing at LAX " expansion." That's because the public doesn't want a bigger airport.
Councilwoman Janice Hahn stated the truth: "We don't want (the airlines) to fly over us to other airports."
But don't we? Isn't that what regionalization of air travel means? Isn't the goal to use Ontario and Palmdale to a greater extent, to force Orange County to carry
its share of the burden of traffic and congestion?
Lindbergh among top on-time performers - San Diego Union-Tribune
The Department of Transportation is out with its report on air travel during the first six months of the year – and San Diegans actually have something to smile about. The numbers prove that Lindbergh Field is among the best airports in the country to be flying from – or to.
August 18, 2007
Rosendahl calls for LAX congestion pricing - Rosendahl media release
Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl this week called for a LAX congestion pricing feasibility study.
Rosendahl introduced a motion calling for a study that would assess the feasibility of implementing an innovative congestion pricing system for LAX and its surrounding communities.
"Our traffic requires us to think out-of-the-box," Rosendahl said. "I will leave no stone unturned in trying to find ways to free our streets, especially Westside streets, of traffic gridlock."
The congestion pricing plan would require motorists to pay a fee to enter into the area, charging a higher rate for vehicles registered outside of Los Angeles County.
Website Editor: Rosendahl's proposed tax may raise votes for him in his district and some money for L.A. but is unlikely to deter travelers going to and from Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties. They already pay a high premium in travel time and cost to use LAX which often is the only airport providing the flights they need.
Intermittent Traffic Delays Announced for Film Production Near Los Angeles International Airport - LAWA media release
Airline passengers and airport workers are advised that they should expect intermittent delays and allot extra time driving to and from Los Angeles International Airport during the next two weekends, August 18 and 19, and August 25 and 26, due to commercial film production on Interstate 105 near the airport.
August 17, 2007
May 2007 Airline Traffic Data: Five-Month 2007 System Traffic Up 1.8 Percent From 2006 - Bureau of Transportation Statistics
U.S. airlines carried 307.9 million scheduled domestic and international passengers on their systems during the first five months of 2007, 1.8 percent more than they did during the same period in 2006, the U.S. Department of Transportation 's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported in a release of preliminary data.
August 16, 2007
Council OKs 10 new gates at LAX - LA Times
In an effort to remain competitive with airports in other cities and accommodate new jumbo jets, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved 10 gates to be built to handle international traffic at Los Angeles International Airport.
The project is the latest in a string of modifications underway at the airport, including a $723.5-million renovation of the Tom Bradley International Terminal and the recent relocation of the southernmost runway for safety reasons.
Officials said the gates -- expected to cost $1.2 billion -- would be the first built at the airport since the early 1980s.
The Daily Breeze reports , plans call for allowing the new concourse to be expanded over time to hold up to 40 gates, according to Gina Marie Lindsay, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports.
August 14, 2007
SCAG forecasts for 2035 – El Toro Info Site report
The Southern California Association of Governments, SCAG Aviation Task Force meets this week and will receive another projection of regional air passenger service for 2035. Click for SCAG’s previous 2035 projections.
Total demand in 28 years is forecast at 162 Million Annual Passengers (MAP) – an 85% increase from 2006.
SCAG assumes that LAX and John Wayne - the region’s two busiest airports today – will not grow beyond their currently negotiated caps even though those limits expire in several years and are set at less than the airports' runway capacity.
This results in an implausible, to this writer, air travel system spread over 13 commercial airports throughout the SCAG region with MAGLEV high speed rail connecting several of them. It may be a great system if you want to fly from near home to Las Vegas or Phoenix but probably means that your local airport won’t have enough business to offer non-stop service to other popular destinations.
If MAGLEV is available, it would be better used to cut the demand for airports by whisking passengers to Las Vegas and the Bay Area rather than from the west side of Los Angeles to Ontario in hopes that they won’t use LAX.
Las Vegas passengers up 4.7% - El Toro Info Site
Passenger traffic at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport rose by 4.7% for the first six months of 2007 when compared to the previous year according to recently posted data from the airport.
Las Vegas is the second most visited destination for air passengers flying out of the Los Angeles basin. Oakland is #1.
August 13, 2007
Larger aircraft – El Toro Info Site report
Operators of airports with limited ground facilities – runways and terminal size – want air carriers to use larger aircraft as a way to serve more passengers with fewer flights. See the Wall Street Journal report below.
We did a random check of the number of passengers per flight in 2006 at several airports in Southern Cal and the Greater New York area. LAX and JFK reported relatively larger numbers of passengers being lifted on each flight, as might be expected from the long distance nature of their operations and the use of jumbo jets.
Statistics for other airports were varied. The presence, in their fleet mix, of small commuter planes feeding the airport had a major impact. Click here for the data.
Small jets, more trips worsen airport delays - Wall Street Journal
FAA likes bigger craft but passengers, airlines prefer busy schedules.
At 5 p.m. last Wednesday, planes from all over were lining up in the air to land at New York's La Guardia Airport. Over the next hour, 41 flights were scheduled to touch down, but there wasn't room for them all. Thirty-three arrived late, one by three hours.
With runway space this scarce, you might think that airlines would use big planes that can carry lots of people. Instead, of those 41 flights, 21 involved small commuter aircraft. Five of them were propeller planes.
The nation's air-travel system approached gridlock early this summer, with more than 30% of June flights late, by an average of 62 minutes. The mess revved up a perennial debate about whether billions of dollars should be spent to modernize the air-traffic control system. But one cause of airport crowding and flight delays is receiving scant attention. Airlines increasingly bring passengers into jammed airports on smaller airplanes. That means using more flights -- and increasing the congestion at airports and in the skies around them.
Just two problems . . . One is that airlines like having more flights with smaller jets. The other is that passengers like it, too.
Computer glitch fixed, LAX operations return to normal - LA Times
Travelers contend with missed connections and tell of hours of misery stuck on runways. A faulty switch is blamed.
A U.S. Customs computer outage that stranded more than 17,000 passengers at LAX was blamed Sunday on faulty hardware and an insufficient backup system that left frustrated travelers sitting on planes or standing in long lines.
The customs agency reported Sunday that 17,398 passengers on 73 flights were affected by Saturday's outage.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa issued a statement Sunday saying he had contacted Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to request a "thorough investigation and incident report."
August 12, 2007
Passenger growth at Ontario airport stagnant - Press Enterprise
Flying the crowded skies has brought many more airline passengers to nearly every Southern California airport this year, but traffic at LA/Ontario International Airport has remained largely unchanged despite the recent launch of ExpressJet Airlines that added 29 flights a day.
The number of travelers roaming the airport's terminals increased less than one percent compared to the same period last year, while John Wayne Airport in Orange County boasted 6.3 percent more travelers and Palm Springs International Airport gained 7.8 percent compared to the first half of 2006.
5-hour delays for some LA airport planes - AP
About 6,000 international passengers were stranded for as long as six hours Saturday at Los Angeles International Airport because a computer failure prevented them from passing through customs, authorities said.
The passengers were stranded in four airport terminals and in 24 planes starting at about 1:30 p.m. because of a breakdown in the computer system. The system contains the names of arriving passengers and law enforcement data about them, including arrest warrants, said Los Angeles World Airports spokesman Paul Haney.
A later, more detailed report from the LA Times puts the number of passengers disrupted at 20,000.
August 11, 2007
"LAXpectations" Website Updates Public on Construction Impacts to Los Angeles Airport Passenger Terminals, Roadways - LAWA Media release
Passengers and community members interested in the multi-million dollar capital improvement projects at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) can get the latest news through the LAXpectations web page.
The web page's current issue of LAXpectations newsletter highlights the temporary relocation of Mexicana Airline's ticket lobby, the completion of the 25L runway, greening plans and airline lounges at Tom Bradley International Terminal, appointment of Gina Marie Lindsey as Los Angeles World Airport's executive director, landing of the first Airbus A380 at LAX and up to date briefs on construction.
Website Editor: Information on the John Wayne Airport improvement project also can be found on the web. Note that both programs are described as "improvements" but not expansions.
August 10, 2007
The political landscape - Daily Pilot
Costa Mesa City Council members on Tuesday approved a pact intended to unify cities in the John Wayne Airport corridor, but some of the cities involved seem to be approaching their cooperation cautiously.
The pact, proposed by Newport Beach, is a set of statements about the co-signing cities' agreement to solve public demand for air travel without expanding John Wayne Airport. The Santa Ana City Council unanimously approved the pact Monday but deleted two sections, and Costa Mesa voted it in Tuesday with several caveats.
The cities likely all would agree they don't want to see the airport expand. But Costa Mesa council members questioned a position opposing any decrease in general aviation — smaller, noncommercial aircraft — because they said their city is more heavily affected by those operations.
Website Editor: NPB does not want general aviation operations to leave the airport because GA occupies a lot of space that could be converted to commercial air carrier use. During the fight over El Toro, the county proposed a JWA expansion plan that displaced smaller aircraft and their short runway.
Council members in Costa Mesa also said they want to begin lobbying to protect their community as the end of the settlement agreement capping flights and passenger levels at John Wayne Airport draws closer. The agreement expires in 2015.
[Bob Hope] Buses getting green retrofit - Burbank Leader
The Burbank- Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority approved purchasing new technology Monday that will cut toxic emissions from the Bob Hope Airport's bus fleet.
The airport will use $171,556 to retrofit 11 diesel buses that are used to shuttle passengers to and from parking lots.
August 9, 2007
San Diego airport reports first half gains - El Toro Info Site
San Diego's Lindbergh Field reports a 3.2% increase in passengers served during the first six months of 2007 when compared with 2006.
The number of air carrier operations increased by 7.6%.
At the current traffic rate, the busy airport is projected to serve 18 million annual passengers this year.
Struggling Express-Jet could raise fares at Ontario - The Press-Enterprise
ExpressJet Holdings Inc., which owns the airline that gave LA/Ontario International Airport 14 new destinations and 29 daily flights in April, lost $26.4 million in its second quarter, the company reported.
The newly launched airline earned pennies per passenger, who flew between smaller airports on unfilled planes.
LA/Ontario Airport spokeswoman Maria Tesaro-Fermin said the airline has been performing "extremely well" at the airport, but declined to be more specific.
Based on the airport's market share summary, ExpressJet could have carried 219,000 passengers from April though June if all its flights were full, but actually carried just 79,389 passengers during that period.
August 8, 2007
John Wayne Airport demonstrates its capacity – El Toro Info Site
For a second consecutive month, John Wayne Airport served over 900,000 passengers. Traffic hit a record 900,969 in May and topped that with 913,172 passengers in July. August is typically the airport’s busiest month.
By serving this many passengers in a month, the airport demonstrates its current physical capacity to accommodate 10.8 million annual passengers (MAP) or more - if demand continues and the airlines are allowed by the county to provide this level of service.
The airport has a 10.3 MAP cap for its current “plan year” April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008, set by an agreement between Newport Beach and the county in 2002. The number of passengers is up by 5.4% so far this plan year. Even adjusting for the normal winter slowdown, passenger volume is projected to hit the cap. If so, we anticipate that management will reduce the number if flights allowed or require carriers to fly with more empty seats.
The website page John Wayne Airport - History, Settlement Agreement, Current Operations and Future provides information on the capacity limits.
Photo sets size record - OC Register
Famous book compiler Guinness calls a 3,506-square-foot image shot at the old El Toro air station the world’s biggest.
The photographers have, over the past 5 years, snapped more than 90,000 photographs documenting the old base’s conversion.
The Legacy Group's canvas will be displayed starting Sept. 6 at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
August 7, 2007
Passenger complaints fly with a third of flights late - LA Times
This summer is officially turning out to be the worst for U.S. air travel as nearly a third of all domestic flights in June were late, and passenger complaints shot up 43%.
The combination of severe storms, more planes in the air and an overloaded air traffic control system kept many travelers stuck at airports for hours, the Transportation Department said Monday.
With June's poor showing, the U.S. airline industry posted its worst on-time performance for the first six months of the year since 1995.
But in all the gloom, there was a silver lining for Southern Californians. Despite long lines, more planes at Los Angeles International Airport departed and arrived on time than at most other airports.
For the first six months of the year, the airport shot up to fifth from 19th in the rankings of 32 major airports for on-time arrivals as it avoided storms that wreaked havoc on East Coast airports. Much of the gain had more to do with other airports suffering greater delays than with any improvements at LAX, where the percentage of planes that departed and arrived on time didn't change.
Website Editor: San Diego was in third place.
August 6, 2007
Will SCRAA take flight? – El Toro Info Site report
The dormant Southern California Regional Airport Authority, SCRAA, was reactivated in 2006 at the request of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Doing this was part of a deal the mayor signed with LAX neighbors. SCRAA’s mission: to involve officials that run other airports in his goal of regionalizing LAX’s airport burden.
More than a year later, SCRAA struggles to revise its by-laws and relinquish its never-used power to build and operate airports. That’s a pre-condition to joining according to most regional airport operators. Orange County, which quit the old pro-El Toro Airport SCRAA, will not rejoin until the organization rescinds provisions in its charter that give it authority to override local decisions, for example regarding the utilization of John Wayne Airport.
The organization’s board has not met since March and SCRAA has cancelled its last three meetings.
The SCRAA website is at www.SCRAA.org.
August 5, 2007
[S.D.] Agency Trying to Get $650M Airport Project Off the Ground - S.D. Business Journal
Constrained on all sides, the single-runway Lindbergh Field has seen passenger traffic grow to the point that it needs at least two more gates to handle it. In addition, traffic going into and out of the airport continues to create bottlenecks.
Airport managers say a short-term remedy is to expand Terminal 2 or the farthest west terminal by 10 gates from its current total of 41.
The expansion plan that is still being examined also calls for constructing an elevated road to the terminal for easier traffic access, a possible five-story parking garage, and an overnight parking area for passenger jets that must be grounded to comply with a no-fly curfew from 11:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
Lindbergh Field is on track to reach capacity sometime between 2015 and 2022, according to airport authority studies.
As more carriers, particularly regional airlines such as ExpressJet and Frontier, provide direct service to certain cities, the airport has seen its passenger counts rise annually in the last four years. Last year, 17.5 million passengers flew from and into the airport.
In the first half of 2007, more than 8.6 million passengers came through Lindbergh, with the heaviest travel months, July and August, still to be counted.
Website Editor: Compare San Diego's efforts to maximize service to Orange County's attempt to limit airport growth. O.C. Environmental Impact Report 582 included an alternative for increasing the number of John Wayne Airport gates from 14 to 24 but the county selected a smaller plan for 18 at the request of Newport Beach. Eventually the number was changed to 20 at the airlines' insistence.
Averting gridlock at Bay Area airports - San Francisco Chronicle
Kirk Shaffer, the FAA's associate administrator for airports projected that by 2025, San Francisco International's passenger traffic will grow 57 to 60 percent, Oakland International's 80 percent and San Jose International's 100 percent.
Given the extent of the challenge, "all options are on the table," Shaffer said at a press conference at SFO on Friday. Those options include basing many small, private aircraft at smaller, regional airfields instead of at major airports, improving and expanding the Bay Area's three major airports, and even running high-speed rail service between the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Ultimately, the nation's entire air travel system needs to be upgraded, according to the FAA's Shaffer, who said gridlock faces not only the Bay Area, but also the big East Coast airports in New York, Newark and Philadelphia, airports in the Los Angeles basin and ultimately the San Diego, Phoenix, Miami, Chicago and Atlanta markets.
Website Editor: In the Los Angeles basin, Southern California Association of Governments planners project no expansion of capacity through 2035 at 4 of the region's 5 major airports. LAX, John Wayne and Long Beach passenger service is projected indefinitely at currently negotiated caps, regardless of the airports' physical capacities, and Burbank's 10-year no-construction agreement is treated as remaining permanently in place. Only Ontario is predicted to expand physically and to provide more service. Most of the region's expected shortfall in capacity is proposed, by SCAG, to be handled at outlying emerging airbases in Palmdale, Victorville, Riverside and San Bernardino.
This does not strike me as realistic for the post-El Toro era. Throughout the nation, existing major airports are planning to maximize their capacity to serve the expected demand.
August 4, 2007
Not in my back yard – El Toro Info Site report
Airports are bad neighbors. That's why El Toro opponents urged using air bases in the Inland Empire. That's why Newport Beach - failing to get John Wayne traffic moved to El Toro - now supports improving ground access from O.C. to other airports elsewhere.
Unfortunately, people live elsewhere too. This week's Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners agenda includes these two funding items:
An
allocation of $5,279,000 is requested to cover property acquisition and
relocation assistance costs [near LAX]. LAWA has acquired 263
single-family and 193 multi-family properties, for a total of 1,426
units. There are 15 single-family properties in Manchester Square, and
84 multi-family properties (76 in Manchester Square and 8 in
Airport/Belford), remaining to be acquired.
The City of Ontario is requesting Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) funds to supplement a recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant. The combined $3,750,000 in FAA and LAWA funds will sound insulate approximately 109 residential dwelling units.
The City of Ontario is requesting Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) funds to supplement a recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant. The combined $3,750,000 in FAA and LAWA funds will sound insulate approximately 109 residential dwelling units.
August 3, 2007
SD Airport Authority Moves Forward on Market Demand Study for Cross-Border Terminal Concept with Tijuana Rodriguez International Airport - SDRAA media release
The San Diego Airport Authority has selected a consultant team and formed an outside advisory group to lead a study to examine the potential market demand for a cross-border terminal. Initial results of the study are expected by the end of the year. The idea of a cross-border terminal, which could allow U.S. passengers easier access to flights at Tijuana Rodriguez International Airport, has been promoted by the South [San Diego] County Economic Development Council and others. Earlier this year, the Mexican government officially expressed interest in the concept.
Las Vegas air travel takes off - El Toro Info Site report
Air travel to Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport was up sharply for the first six months of 2007. As of June 30, year-to-date passengers totaled 23,609,962 - a 6.9% increase over last year.
The airport served 30.3% more passengers than in the same period in pre-terror attack 2000.
In comparison, L.A. region airports were up 2.3% from last year and only 1.7% from the same period in 2000.
August 2, 2007
A daily flight to Shanghai would likely result in easier exporting and more tourism from China - OC Register
Orange County business travelers could get to China faster if United Airlines wins its bid for nonstop service from Los Angeles to Shanghai, but Orange County companies that export to China and the region’s tourism industry stand to gain the most.
More people travel from the Los Angeles area to China than from any other U.S. region, said a United senior vice president. Last year, 218,908 people flew from LAX to China – 20 percent of all U.S. travelers to that nation. Next are New York (15 percent) and the Bay Area (14 percent), United reported.
Los Angeles projects that a daily nonstop flight from L.A. to Shanghai could contribute $647 million annually in economic output for the region, including $164 million in wages and 3,120 direct and indirect jobs.
New Palm Springs airport executive banks on team effort - Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise
Palm Springs International Airport's Executive Director Thomas Nolan said the airport's key goals include finishing construction of a new regional concourse that will add eight new gates in the next few months, securing Federal Aviation Administration funding to replace the airport's aging control tower, and overhauling the concession area. See July 27 report on PSP.
Recruiting more airlines and adding routes to the airport remains a priority, but Nolan said he and his staff would be focused on maintaining the service they have in light of rising oil prices and airline cutbacks.
August 1, 2007
[Bob Hope] Airport has record passenger totals - Burbank Leader
Strong performance and new airline factor into a boost to local travel hub while LAX figures decline.
Passenger activity at the Bob Hope Airport during the first half of 2007 reached record highs, exceeding figures tallied prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Four other regional airports in Southern California - LA/Ontario International Airport, Long Beach Airport, Palm Springs International Airport and John Wayne Airport in Orange County - are undergoing the same upward trend in passenger travel.
The report cites statistics gathered by this website and quotes the website editor attributing the decline at LAX to a tendency for travelers to avoid the larger airport.
