Region's air traffic off by 9.5% through September
For the first 9 months of 2009, air travel in the region was 9.5 percent less than in the same period last year. The change by airport is as follows:
| Los
Angeles International |
-8.0 |
| John
Wayne |
-6.0 |
| LA/Ontario |
-26.1 |
| Bob
Hope (estimate) |
-7.7 |
| Long
Beach |
+0.8 |
| Palm
Springs |
-7.5 |
| TOTAL |
-9.5 |
Fitch lowers rating on LAX revenue bonds - Daily Breeze
Even though the rating remains strong for $1.28 billion worth of revenue bonds up for sale next month by Los Angeles International Airport, Fitch Ratings on Monday changed the bond outlook from stable to negative.
The bonds are expected to pay for construction projects at LAX and to refinance existing debt.
Fitch downgraded the airport's bonds to negative based on "increased potential stress to the airport's cost and financial profile" in connection with $5.6 billion worth of capital improvements expected through 2016.
"I think that Fitch has provided us with a thoughtful statement of our current and future outlook here at LAX," said Michael Molina, director of external affairs at LAX. "It's an indication that we have much work ahead in improving our airport."
Fitch's downgrade was also attributed to the fact that estimates for LAX's improvement project were 35 percent higher from a plan presented last year.
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John Wayne Airport is providing illustrated construction updates on its "Improvement Program" (expansion) and the airport's quarterly newsletter online. Just click the links.
ONT corrects September traffic figures
Ontario Airport issued revised passenger data for September. The airport traffic for the month was off by 9.6 percent from September 2008.
Year-to-date comparisons remain essentially unchanged.
Week of October 19 - October 25, 2009
Thirteen years ago this month, a Web site kicked off that became a major player in a long shot but successful battle to kill off a proposed commercial airport at El Toro, the shuttered Marine airfield.
Len Kranser of Dana Point and his www.eltoroairport.org continues blogging on about Southern California airports.
Frequent fliers rate LAX the third-worst airport in the world - L.A. Times
Turns out that a $1-billion overhaul of Los Angeles International Airport can't come too soon for 14,526 frequent fliers, who rated it the third-worst airport in the world in a just-released survey. The most hated airport? London's giant Heathrow (LHR), followed by Paris' Charles de Gaulle (CDG).
The online survey was conducted in September among members of Priority Pass, a program that charges an annual fee for access to airport lounges.
LAX has up month in September; ONT decline slows
Los Angeles International Airport served 4,510,651 passengers in September. The total was 1.02 percent ahead of September 2008.
It was the first up month since December 2007.
Year-to-date, the airport is off by 8 percent from the first nine months of 2008.
LA/Ontario Airport saw a 10.6 percent drop in September and is down 26 percent for the year.
Orange County Supervisors to consider cutting out project labor agreements
At this week's O.C. Board of Supervisors meeting, the board will vote on a proposal to bar requiring of project labor agreements in county contracts. These agreements force contractors to use union workers.
In January 2000, the pro-El Toro Airport majority on the Board of Supervisors instituted the use of PLA's as a device for winning union backing in the ballot fight over Measure F, the anti-airport initiative.
Disneyland via Ontario Airport plan afoot - The Press-Enterprise
Before Disneyland-bound tourists book their flights, officials with Los Angeles World Airports hope offers of fare rebates, shuttle rides on area freeways and, perhaps, early admission to the theme park will be enough incentive for them to choose Ontario International Airport.
In a plan that may not be implemented until next summer and aims to shift air travel to the Inland airport, a consultant to LAWA -- the Los Angeles city agency that owns and operates Ontario and Los Angeles International airports -- has proposed linking Ontario to Disneyland both physically and through promotions with the theme park.
Peggy Ducey, who was hired by LAWA more than three months ago to help boost passenger traffic at Ontario, said the airport could serve as a destination for Disneyland vacationers. At John Wayne Airport, 1.3 million of its passengers head to the Magic Kingdom and another 1.8 million come from LAX, she said. Most use public transit instead of renting cars, she added.
"These passengers were doing everything we wanted except picking the airport we wanted," she said.
Website Editor: LAWA wants more passengers at Ontario where traffic has slumped. Newport Beach wants fewer passengers at John Wayne Airport and has supported efforts to get Disneyland-bound travelers to use the inland alternative.
Click for more details.
Board eyeing $1.13 billion in LAX upgrades - Torrance Daily Breeze
The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners is poised Monday to consider a pair of construction contracts totaling $1.13 billion to build nine new airline gates and add 1 million square feet to the Tom Bradley International Terminal by 2013.
If approved, the move would mark the largest awarding of construction contracts at one time for a single project in city history, funded through a combination of bonds and airport revenues, said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles International Airport.
"This is the front door to the United States for millions of international passengers every year, but our front door has, for years, not really reflected the city," Lindsey said.
Each gate will be equipped with dual passenger loading bridges and spacious concourses capable of handling passengers arriving and departing on supersized jetliners such as the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Two years ago, Lindsey promised the Los Angeles City Council that at least two of those gates would be built by January 2012, and said she has remained steadfast to that commitment.
No LAX! O.C.-Hawaii nonstops return in March - OCRegister.com
Continental Airlines will launch service from John Wayne Airport to Honolulu beginning March 7, the airline announced this week.
It will be the first non-stop flights from Orange County to Hawaii since March 2008, when Aloha Airlines, which had been operating under bankruptcy protection, abruptly shut down.
Week of October 12 - October 18, 2009
ONT trying to weather declining airline ridership - Contra Costa News
From turning off a set of runway lights to closing a wing at each terminal, officials at LA/Ontario International Airport are cutting costs in response to a nearly 30 percent decline in traffic.
"A lot of the airline industry is suffering greatly with this recession, and Ontario is taking a larger hit because it's costly to come into the airport," said Mary Jane Olhasso, economic development director for the city of Ontario.
Olhasso also pointed to high administrative fees as a factor in ONT's budget struggles.
ONT's administrative fee is 15 percent of the airport's $66.8 million operating budget, Olhasso said.
Reducing the fee, which LAWA sets, would be crucial to controlling expenses and bringing in more flights, she said. The administrative fee covers staffing support from LAX, such as engineers, Romo said.
See what John Wayne Airport will look like in 2011 - OCRegister.com
New images released this week give the clearest view yet of what John Wayne Airport will look like following an expansion effort that is now in full-swing.
Crews earlier this year demolished a parking structure connected to the terminal, and now are pounding hundreds of giant piles into the ground to support an expanded terminal and a new parking structure. Both are expected to debut by late 2011.
Opened in 1990 and designed to serve 8.4 million passengers yearly, the aviation hub served 9.8 million people in its 2007-2008 accounting period.
Website Editor: Airports generally have been able to exceed their original design capacities thanks to newer larger aircraft, improvements in air traffic control and land side factors.
Since then, global economic woes have led to reduced air traffic, but passenger numbers have begun picking up in the past two months. Under a legal pact aimed at limiting noise, the airport can host 10.3 million passengers each year, and that figure jumps to 10.8 million in 2011.
JWA has a better month in September
Airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport increased in September 2009 as compared to September 2008. In September 2009, the Airport served 709,101 passengers, an increase of 3.1% when compared to the September 2008 passenger traffic count of 687,603.
Year to date, total passenger traffic is down by 6.0% from the first nine months of 2008.
Commercial Carrier flight operations increased 5.0%, while Commuter Carrier (air taxi) operations decreased 10.7% when compared to the same levels recorded in September 2008.
Week of October 5 - October 11, 2009
Ontario Airport in Death Spiral - Press-Enterprise
Ontario International Airport has got to get out of the clutches of Los Angeles World Airports.
The LA city-controlled airport authority, which owns Ontario as well as LAX, seems determined to fly the Inland airport into the ground.
Ontario will have fewer travelers this year than anytime in the past 20 years. That's incomprehensible in an area where the population has doubled since 1988.
Officials are projecting 4.83 million passengers for 2009, down from 7.2 million in 2007.
The recession is only partly to blame.
Airports throughout the United States are hurting. But Ontario has lost a larger percentage of passengers than any of the other 100 largest airports in the U.S.
The problem is the way Los Angeles World Airports has structured airline fees at Ontario, spreading the costs across however many airlines are there. As airlines leave or cut flights, there are fewer to share the costs.
City officials still fighting for curfew at Bob Hope - Burbank Leader
After airport officials invested about $7 million to achieve a nighttime noise curfew at Bob Hope Airport, city leaders are gearing up for one last push.
A team of Burbank officials will join Mayor Gary Bric and Councilman Dave Golonski on a trip next week to the nation’s capital before the Federal Aviation Administration renders a decision by Nov. 1.
The group plans to meet with lawmakers, particularly those who oversee transportation and aviation committees, to discuss options to deliver meaningful nighttime noise relief.
The Burbank-Glendale- Pasadena Airport Authority commissioned the Part 161 Study — a roughly 800-page document required to restrict all departures and landings at Bob Hope Airport between 10 p.m. and 6:59 a.m. — after decades of noise and air pollution complaints from neighbors. FAA officials said it was the first study of its kind to make it through the review process.
Feds: Runway mishaps decline at John Wayne Airport - OC Register
Nationwide, serious errors plummet 50 percent.
Runway safety improved at John Wayne Airport for the second consecutive year, reflecting a nationwide trend, federal officials said Thursday.
So-called runway incursions – incidents in which aircraft, vehicles or pedestrians enter the airstrip without authorization – had spiked in 2007 at John Wayne and across the country, setting off alarm bells.
In response, officials gave extra training to air traffic controllers, distributed precautionary information to pilots and added prominent signs and markings on runways.
At Los Angeles International Airport, near-misses skyrocketed not long ago, with the airport in 2007 recording 21 incursions. Of those, two were serious episodes where a crash was barely averted or there was significant potential for an accident.
Last year, though, LAX tallied just nine incursions, and this year, it had just eight; no serious incidents happened either year.
Nationwide, serious incursions dropped by half, with 12 such incidents occurring in 2009, compared with 25 in 2008.
Continental Airlines announces new services to Hawaii
Continental Airlines announced on Wednesday the launch of new services from Los Angeles to Maui and from Orange County to Honolulu on 7 March 2010.
The carrier also said that it plans to add a second daily flight to its Los Angeles-Honolulu route on the same date.
The service from Los Angeles International Airport to Maui's Kahului Airport will be operated using 160-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft, the service between Orange County's John Wayne Airport and Honolulu International Airport will be operated using 124-seat Boeing 737-700 aircraft and the second daily service between Los Angeles and Honolulu will be operated using 173-seat Boeing 737-900 aircraft.
FAA Stimulus Recipients Got Low Priority Ratings - WSJ
More than $270 million in stimulus grants awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration have gone to projects that scored below the agency's own threshold for weeding out low-priority proposals, according to data being released Wednesday by a government watchdog group, SubsidyScope. See below..
Database Shows Billions Went to Airports Deemed Low Priority - Subsidyscope.org
Nearly $2 billion for more than 3,100 airport construction and rehabilitation projects has been obligated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) during the past five years even though the projects received low priority ratings, a Subsidyscope review of FAA data has found.
A searchable database released on Subsidyscope includes National Priority Ratings (NPRs) for every project awarded a grant under the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program (AIP) from fiscal year 2005 through most of fiscal year 2009.
Derived in part from a Freedom of Information Act request, the database includes information on enplanements — the number of paying passengers who board scheduled airlines or charter planes — to give users a sense of the level of commercial activity at a particular airport.
Website Editor: San Bernardino International Airport had the eighth highest funding per passenger, receiving $168,721 per enplanement per the report.
FAA data show: Within the past five years, the FAA funded 3,139 projects (out of a total of 18,771) with NPRs below 41, cited by the agency as the threshold for discretionary AIP grants (no threshold is set for formula-driven entitlement grants, although the FAA says it considers how an airport uses entitlement money in deciding whether to award discretionary funds).
Website Editor: Los Angeles International Airport received $279,615,633, the most dollars of any airport in the nation. Southern California's six major airports, received 94 grants totaling $449,001,181 for projects all of which scored NPR ratings above 41 with the exception of 6 relatively small projects at Orange County's John Wayne Airport.
LAX leaders approve direct, non-stop bus service to Irvine - OC Register
Plan would link the airport to Orange County's busiest transit hub.
A plan to connect Los Angeles International Airport to the Irvine train station with a direct bus link has cleared another hurdle, with airport officials backing what they describe as a convenient and affordable alternative for travelers hoping to avoid traffic congestion and parking woes.
The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners on Monday approved a three-year license agreement with the city of Irvine to expand their FlyAway direct bus service program into Orange County. Irvine leaders signed off on the plan last month, hoping to get the bus service up and running before the peak travel season begins in November.
Airport leaders are proposing a $25 one-way fare for the 50-mile trip between Irvine and LAX.
Website Editor: SuperShuttle quotes $45 for one person and $54 for two in a shared ride van from Irvine to LAX.
Noise map of Long Beach Airport on council agenda - Press-Telegram
The City Council is scheduled to approve a [new] "noise contour" map that outlines which areas are most affected by the airport noise and which residences will be able to take advantage of QuieterHome.
The noise contour map, which was created by the Federal Aviation Administration based on data from 18 noise monitors around the airport, lists 27 homes that qualify for QuieterHome. All 27 are at the southern, aircraft-landing end of the airport's main runway.
The noise contour map outlines areas that averaged 65 decibels or higher from aircraft noise in 2008.
The LGB data was previously updated in 2004. Click here for noise contour information on Southern California commercial airports.
Week of September 28 - October 4, 2009
Southwest and Virgin America grow LAX - San Francisco route by 50% in two years - Airline Network News and Analysis
Air traffic between the biggest airports serving Los Angeles and San Francisco, has been stimulated in the last two years by the addition of Southwest and Virgin America into the market. In 2006 just under 1.8 million passengers flew between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Francisco airport (SFO). Last year (2008) that figure had jumped to just over 2.7 million.
Website Editor: The report neglects to say whether more people are flying between the two hubs or whether the traffic increase came at the expense of other airports in SoCal and the Bay area.
Region's air travel off 10 percent from last year
Total air travel at the Southern California's major airports was off by slightly over 10 percent for the 8 months ending August 2009 when compared to the same period last year.
Statistics for LAX, San Diego, Orange County, Ontario, Burbank, Long Beach and Palm Springs show only Long Beach airport maintaining its volume of passengers so far during 2009. LGB traffic was up by 0.5 percent for the eight months.
However, Long Beach travel dropped 6.6% in the month of August, was off for the past three months and appears headed to finish 2009 below its 2008 level - keeping company with all of the other SoCal airports.
The Southern California Association of Governments repeatedly predicted aviation demand at airports, excluding San Diego, to top 150 million annual passengers in coming years. These optimistic forecasts fueled the drives to build commercial passenger airports at El Toro, Palmdale, San Bernardino and Victorville. The reality is that 2009 demand is likely to total under 80 million and experts do not expect much change in 2010.
"Trees do not grow to the sky."
The Airport Authority's Fashionable Makeover - Voice of San Diego
The woman walks through San Diego's airport with purpose in her high heels, her rolling luggage trailing behind. She strides, pauses, smiles as she checks her cell phone. The small scene unfolds in the Airport Authority's 2008 annual report, mailed each year to officials throughout the region.
She's a model, hired by the Airport Authority to pose for the report. The four hours she worked cost the traveling public $792 -- plus another $400 for a makeup artist.
The cost was included in the $82,000 the authority spent to produce 2,500 copies of its annual report, which touts its accomplishments for the year and contains its financial report. The 30-page document, whose design ran over budget by 7 percent, cost $33 per copy to produce and send to the region's luminaries. While the authority says it used soy-based inks and 100 percent recycled paper to produce the document in an environmentally conscious way, it isn't available online.
