NEWS BLOG - LATEST
HEADLINES
August 23 - August 29, 2010
Mexicana Airlines Halts Flights Indefinitely
Mexicanan Airlines, which is the
biggest foreign carrier at Los Angeles International Airport, canceled
all flights Saturday, and passengers were being being accommodated by
American Airlines on a standby basis, the airport reported today.
Grupo Mexicana, the parent of Mexicana Airlines, filed for bankruptcy
Aug. 3 after being unable to win union concessions, and the company's
future is uncertain.
The last Mexicana flight departed LAX at 6:45 a.m., according to a
statement from Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX.
Six other flights, which had reservations for a total of about 300
passengers, were canceled.
JWA eyes $24 million modernization -
OC Register
In the latest example of John Wayne Airport's modernization, officials
are set to approve a nearly $24 million project to install new ticket
counters, speed up passenger check-in and give airlines flexibility to
move quickly among gates and ticket counters.
Some of the more conspicuous elements of the plan would create a
uniform appearance at ticket counters, which now vary significantly by
airline, and swap out airline-specific self-serve kiosks for ones
standardized for all carriers.
LAWA posts July results at LAX and ONT
Los Angeles International Airport saw a 1.6 percent increase in
passengers in July 2010 compared to the same month last
year. For the seven months ending July, traffic was up 4.5
percent.
At LA/Ontario, there was a 1.4 percent pickup for the month versus last
year. For the seven months, traffic lagged 2009 by 1.2 percent.
August 16 - August 22, 2010
New feather in JWA's cap - Daily
Pilot
Construction crews from McCarthy Building Cos. on Aug. 2 laid down the
last piece of structural steel on JWA's Terminal C, a new
280,000-square foot, three-level facility with six more gates for
commercial airliners.
Crews began constructing the walkway connecting the terminal to
Terminal B in May. Dubbed an airport "improvement" instead of
expansion, the airport's remodeling costs about $540 million and
includes more than just the new terminal. Construction crews are
upgrading and renovating the airport's existing terminals to the tune
of $102.3 million.
Terminal C's construction costs $195.9 million. There will also be
three more baggage carousels, concession stands and additional security
checkpoints for domestic and international flights.
About $180 million of the airport's upgrades are paid for by revenue
from a $4.50 federal Passenger Facility Charge.
Roof added to new John Wayne Airport terminal -
OC Register
The latest milestone in the half-billion-dollar expansion is an
addition of a roof on the 280,000-square-foot terminal addition. Once
complete, it will be a "mirror image" of the existing terminal, said
Khatchig Tchapadarian of general contractor McCarthy Building
Cos. (Newspaper article includes photos.)
The interior of the new terminal will be almost identical to the
existing one, although the roof is higher.
The new terminal and a 2,000-space parking structure will open in late
2011.
Website Editor: The huge new
terminal will include only six passenger loading gates. In our opinion,
the decision to include only six gates was an attempt to limit the
capacity of the airport.
Long Beach Airport to get $2.2
million to upgrade jet ramp
Federal authorities have approved a $2.2 million grant to help upgrade
Long Beach Airport's passenger jet ramp, which is being electrified to
power waiting planes.
The grant goes toward a $136 million, four-year modernization plan
encompassing the airport's main terminal, parking areas, passenger
concourse and ramps.
August 9 - August 15, 2010
New concourse will bring updated look to Long Beach Airport -
Signal
Tribune
Without sacrificing the classic, Art Deco-style terminal, the airport
is continuing to move forward with its long-awaited modernization plan,
which includes: restoration of the existing terminal; a new passenger
concourse; a 2,236-space parking garage; and air-carrier ramp
improvements.
Currently, the parking structure is the only project in progress, and
it has added 450 jobs to the market– the groundbreaking for the new
passenger concourse is set for this December.
Chamber efforts to oppose airport curfew successful -
LA Business
Curfews at local airports would cost jobs, hurt businesses and increase
congestion at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which is why
the Chamber recently joined other stakeholders to oppose an attempt to
ban — for the second time — all overnight flights at Van Nuys and Bob
Hope Airports.
This latest attempt to insert language for a ban in the upcoming
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill failed.
Commercial airlines already observe a voluntary curfew at Bob Hope
Airport. Any new curfew would directly impact cargo carriers and
business aircraft, forcing them to reroute operations to LAX. The FAA
denied an earlier administrative request by Bob Hope Airport.
Losing Virgin
hurts JWA numbers -
Daily
Pilot
Since Virgin America pulled its four-times-a-day service from John
Wayne Airport to San Francisco International Airport in May, the
overall number of passengers has declined, particularly in July, which
saw a 3.6% drop in passenger volume compared with July 2009, Jenny
Wedge, a spokeswoman for the airport, said Wednesday.
"Passengers still have access to the San Francisco Bay area," Wedge
said, "but it's not as busy as it's once been ever since they pulled
out. But it was to be expected."
So far, since January, the airport has served 5 million passengers and
looks to be on track to serve more than 8 million customers in 2010, if
the fall and winter months are good to Orange County, Wedge said.
In 2009, the airport saw 8.7 million passengers land and take off from
the airport, Wedge said.
The busiest year for the airport ever, Wedge said, was in 2007, when
9.9 million passengers passed through its gates.
Wedge told the OC Metro, "We continue
to work with our existing air carriers and reach out to other
interested airlines to let them know we do have additional operational
capacity if they are interested."
JWA traffic decreased in July
Airline passenger traffic at John
Wayne Airport decreased in July 2010 as compared to July 2009. In July
2010, the Airport served 792,532 passengers, a decrease of 3.6% when
compared to the July 2009 passenger traffic count of 821,905.
Commercial aircraft operations decreased 6.3%, while Commuter aircraft
operations decreased 71.8% when compared to the levels recorded in July
2009.
How did L.A. come to own ONT? Slowly - Inland Valley Daily
Bulletin
Manhattan won't
be returned to the Indians and L.A./Ontario International Airport won't
be returned to Ontario. Not because Ontario lost the receipt but
because Los Angeles wants to keep the airport.
However, L.A.
officials last week said they're willing to consider letting Ontario,
or a consortium of agencies, or a private company, run the L.A.-owned
airport in an attempt to turn it around.
Traffic dropped
from 7.2 million passengers per year to 4.9 million.
All of which
raises a question: How did L.A. come to own Ontario's airport, anyway?
Bulletin staff
writer David Allen provides a
report, archived here, on how Los Angeles slowly obtained control over
the Inland Empire airport that some now want to shake free of LA.
August 2 - August 8, 2010
John Wayne makes list of 10 "scariest" airports -
USA Today
Strict
noise reduction requirements may not seem scary at first, but if you're
not expecting engine cutbacks during takeoff you might be spooked.
According to Jenny Wedge, public relations manager at John Wayne
Airport in Santa Ana, "Due to its close proximity to nearby
communities, JWA has one of the most stringent aircraft access and
noise monitoring programs in the United States, if not the world."
Pilots begin their takeoffs at close to full power, then incline
quickly and steeply before reducing engine power. "It's like a space
shuttle liftoff," says Facebook follower Elizabeth Conrad. Smith notes
that passengers contact him about this airport all the time, some even
claiming the pilots turn off the engines after take off. But although
the procedure seems unusual, he says "there's nothing that the plane
does that is not within its capabilities."
Website Editor: Once upon a
time there was a plan put forward to
extend the runway into the grassy area in the foreground of this
photo so that departing flights would take off further back from the
Newport Beach end of the runway. The county did not pursue it. The
county also gave Newport Beach a veto over any extension of the runway
at the far (south) end.
[BUR] Passenger numbers keep dropping -
Glendale
News Press
Passenger traffic at Bob Hope Airport was down 2.4% in June compared
with the previous year, dragging the year-to-date figure down by more
than 3%, airport records show.
Last year, the number of passengers fell to 4.6 million, the lowest in
eight years, and down 13% from 5.3 million in 2008. Passenger volume
peaked at more than 5.9 million in 2007.
The latest figures indicate continued drops in passenger traffic, a
trend that is in line with what airport officials say they have planned
for.
Passenger traffic forecasting is mostly a financial planning tool, and
the airport has expected lower numbers since the peak in 2007,
spokesman Victor Gill said.
Burbank Airport turns to Congress in noise restriction fight -
LA Times
After years of painstaking studies, millions of dollars and one failed
federal application for nighttime flight restrictions, Bob Hope Airport
officials are turning to Congress.
Three representatives whose districts are most affected by curfews
signed a letter seeking legislation to bar flights from arriving or
departing between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. at Bob Hope and Van Nuys airports.
The effort comes one year after the Federal Aviation Administration
rejected the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority's request to
impose a ban in what has become a decades-long effort to dampen
aircraft noise.
Commercial airlines have agreed to a voluntary curfew at Bob Hope
Airport, but freight carriers and others oppose a curfew they say would
hurt business.
July 26 - August 1, 2010
Airport deal at crossroads 25 years later - OC
Register
Twenty five years ago this month, Newport Beach residents became the
envy of anyone who's ever lived near an airport, winning one-of-a-kind
noise protections and flight caps that remain the nation’s strongest.
“Nobody – no population, no community – has a more restrictive regimen
than we have here,” said Barbara Lichman, a key participant in securing
landmark limits on John Wayne Airport in August 1985.
The so-called settlement agreement was unprecedented, and it had
remarkable timing, coming just before federal legislation largely
eliminated the legality of such local control.
Residents were “very fortuitous,” said Dave Kiff, Newport Beach city
manager. A quarter-century later, they are counting on more than luck
to keep the deal in place. With the pact to be renegotiated in coming
years, the city spends no small amount of time and money to head off
adversaries who say its rules went too far.
Website Editor: The article
quotes this website editor's position that the million annual passenger
MAP cap leads to higher ticket prices and that airplanes make noise,
people do not, so forcing airlines
to fly empty seats makes no sense.
Yet to be discussed is the reasoning
behind Orange County spending a half billion dollars on an expansion -
including a huge new third terminal - when powerful forces, including
at least one county supervisor, oppose expanding passenger
service. The current caps expire in 2015, soon after the new
terminal is completed.
JWA ought to look at San Jose's new terminal - OC
Register Travel
San Jose's Terminal B opened June 30, and I had a chance to stop by on
the way home late last month. It's the kind of place that we can only
hope the new Terminal C at (deep breath) Thomas F. Riley Terminal of
John Wayne Airport will resemble, even just a little bit.
Website Editor: Register Travel
Editor Gary Warner lists a lot of wonderful architectural features and
amenities in San Jose's new Terminal B that he would like to see in
John Wayne Airport's new Terminal C.
I would add one more: - gates.
In an attempt to minimize the utilization of JWA, county officials
decided in 2001 to limit the passenger gates in its new terminal. JWA
is adding a 282,000 square foot terminal with only 6 gates. San
Jose's new terminal measures 380,000 square feet and hosts 12 passenger
gates. It has one-third more space but twice the number of
boarding locations where passengers can access flights to more
locations..
We previously noted that
LA/Ontario Airport's Terminal 2 has 265,000 square feet and 12
gates. Ontario Terminal 4 has 265,000 square feet and 14 gates.
Delta to launch OC-JFK service -
OC
Register
Delta Air Lines will begin flying non-stop between Orange County's John
Wayne Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on
Sept. 7.
Initial fares are as low as $259 round trip, including tax. The airline
will use a single-aisle Boeing 737-700 aircraft in both directions.
The airline announced the service Wednesday as part of a large-scale
reshuffling and expansion of routes throughout the world.
Jenny Wedge, spokeswoman for John Wayne Airport,said service to New
York's largest airport has been a top request of Orange County
customers.
Delta also announced it will end service from Orange County to Detroit.
Currently, Orange County residents can fly non-stop on Continental
Airlines from John Wayne Airport to Newark Liberty International
Airport. Another option is to fly out of Long Beach to JFK on JetBlue.
Irvine Councilwoman Christina Shea Speaks Out on Environmental Mess at
El Toro - Salem-News.com
The old Marine Corps air base in Orange County, El Toro, is a huge
political liability, that isn't necessarily a big secret, but new
attention is being drawn to this fact by one of Irvine's city leaders,
Councilwoman Christina Shea. She is coming out swinging with
allegations of cover ups, wasted taxpayer funds and major concerns
about the health of people who once lived on the base, or today live
near it.
This means a lot to those of us who were once Marines at this place.
MCAS El Toro was for half a century, a vibrant base that was a strong
defensive point for all of Southern California.
It is a complicated and twisted tale that begins with this military
base's listing by BRAC, the Base Realignment and Closure Committee,
back in 90's.
Then came a years long fight between two ideas: turning El Toro into an
airport to relieve stress on Orange County's John Wayne Airport, or
transform the base into a park and housing community. The park idea
won, now it is losing fast.
We have been bringing the story of El Toro forward for three years now;
Salem-News.com crews have spent a good deal of time on the base
documenting the different sites, and continually learning more and more
from hundreds of former and current Marines who write to us, telling us
about their service at the base and often, all too often, details on
the illnesses they suffer from.
There really are no secrets about El Toro, the base has been an EPA
'Superfund' site since the contamination was first studied by the Dept.
of the Navy several years ago. As we have revealed in our reports, all
of the damning evidence is available for the Public to see in the
Woodbridge Irvine Public Library in the at Heritage Park.
California Fare Sale -
Lifestyle.com
Southwest Airlines is offering $59* one-way airfares for travel within
California. These southwest.com-only airfares are available with a
21-day advance purchase for Customers in Burbank, Oakland, Los Angeles,
San Jose, Sacramento, Ontario, and San Diego. Fares are available seven
days a week. Orange County's John Wayne Airport is not included in this
sale. To book these fares available only at southwest.com, go to: http://www.southwest.com/jp/luvhome.shtml?src=PR_interCal_120205
Website Editor: How many times
have we seen "John Wayne Airport not included" in fare sales?
There must be something about the
airport or the way that it is managed that produces this result. Send
us your thoughts.
Repairs to Los Alamitos airfield to start in fall - Long Beach
Press-Telegram
A recent influx of military aircraft using Long Beach Airport is
expected to subside by late fall after repairs are completed to the
battered main runway at nearby Los Alamitos Army Airfield.
The repairs, scheduled to begin in the fall, will fix a heavily used
8,000-foot runway that was closed to most large aircraft and fighter
jets - including Air Force One - in January 2009, when significant
deterioration was discovered.
The runway is suffering from cracking and loose debris along vast
stretches of the asphalt portions of its runway, creating serious
hazards during landings and takeoffs.
Since the closure, military and cargo pilots have been diverting en
masse to Long Beach Airport, which sits just several miles northwest of
Los Alamitos.
Even Air Force One, which for decades used the closely guarded base for
presidential visits, was forced to divert to Long Beach in March 2009.
Airport hub moves forward
- Burbank Leader
A large $120-million transit center
that would combine bus, train and rental car traffic into one hub at
Bob Hope Airport took a step closer to reality Tuesday after the
Burbank City Council voted 4 to 1 to settle a number of land-use issues.
One of the key selling points for the transit center was to cut down on
traffic generated by airport operations. Rental car companies must make
700,000 yearly trips to an off-site facility to service their fleets
because there is no room at Bob Hope Airport, officials said.
The so-called Regional Intermodal Transportation Center would solve the
space issue, as well as provide enough room for 14 buses with a transit
lounge and a new parking structure for airport patrons.
Bob Hope Airport train station passengers would have access to an
elevated pedestrian bridge over Empire Avenue to connect to the parking
lot. An elevated pedestrian walkway with a moving sidewalk is planned
to connect the parking structure to the air passenger terminal.
Ontario International Airport reports June decline -
The
Press-Enterprise
Traffic at Ontario International Airport dropped by 5.2 percent in June
compared to the same month in 2009 and a 37.4 percent decrease since
June 2007.
LAX has had 28.3 million travelers in the first six months of the year,
a 4.9 percent increase compared to the same period a year prior. Last
month, traffic increased 4 percent compared to the same month a year
prior.
Since 2008, Ontario airport lost service from JetBlue, Aeromexico and
startup airline ExpressJet as well as suffered cuts in capacity at
remaining airlines including the airport's largest, Southwest Airlines.
Upset with steep passenger declines at the airport, officials with the
city of Ontario have recently begun lobbying Los Angeles City Council
members and agency leaders to consider giving control of the airport
back to the Inland city.
Ontario continues in slump
In June, LA/Ontario International
Airport served 408,800 passengers, none of them on international
flights. That was 5.24 percent fewer than in June 2009.
Year-to-date, ONT saw 2,337,880 passengers or 2.61 percent fewer than
last year. 54 percent of all passengers flew on SouthWest Airlines.
If the six-month trend continues, the airport will see fewer than 5
million passengers this year.
That is a sad position for an airport built to handle at least 10
million passengers and planned to
expand and serve 30 million by 2025.
LA/Ontario International Airport has three terminals including a small
international terminal. The terminal numbering scheme is designed to
accommodate future growth. The airport's master plan calls for five
terminals to be spaced adjacent to and in between the existing
Terminals 2 and 4. Terminal 2 has 265,000 square feet and 12
gates. Terminal 4 has 265,000 square feet and 14 gates.
By comparison, Orange County supervisors chose to limit John Wayne
Airport's capacity and opted to build a third terminal that will have approximately
282,000 square feet but only 6 gates.
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here for previous news reports