Week of November 24 - November 30, 2008

John Wayne Airport continues expansion project despite dismal state of airline industry - LA Times
The Orange County airport is undertaking a $652-million project that includes a new passenger terminal and a parking structure with at least 2,000 spaces. Not everyone, however, is on board.

Airports across the country are shelving or downsizing planned expansions because of a sharp drop in passengers, yet John Wayne Airport in Orange County is proceeding with a $652-million terminal project -- its first major improvement since 1990.

John Wayne officials say the project will meet future demands for air travel and maintain the airport's position as an attractive alternative to the much larger Los Angeles International Airport, which handled more than 61 million travelers last year.

Plans call for a third passenger terminal that would increase the gates for commercial aircraft from 14 to 20 and help the airport accommodate up to 10.8 million passengers a year -- the ceiling set by an earlier court settlement with residents of neighboring cities.

In addition, space will be added for a federal customs and immigration facility to process passengers from international carriers that airport officials hope to attract in the future.  More . . .

---

Why Fund a zero-growth airport?  - OC Register letters

The OC Register publishes comments by website editor Len Kranser, under the above headline The letter reacts to last week's Register report on  "the costliest expansion in John Wayne Airport's history."

Everyone calls the addition of the airport’s third terminal an “expansion” except politically correct airport management and county officials who call it an “improvement program.”

Supervisor John Moorlach and his constituents in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach have begun a fight for zero growth in the airport’s future level of passenger service. This raises questions as to why so much money is being spent on expanding JWA.

---

Thanksgiving Holiday Airport Traffic Decreased Nationwide - Transportation Security Agency blog

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is usually a very busy day at the nation’s airports, and traditionally, the second busiest travel day of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Based on data collected from this past Wednesday, the number of passengers going through checkpoints decreased 16 percent nationwide - and 14 percent at the nation’s 40 busiest airports - compared to last year.

Of the top 40 U.S. airports, the biggest decreases in passenger volume on Wednesday were at Honolulu International Airport (35 percent); John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA (32 percent); Tampa International Airport (27 percent) and Newark International Airport (22 percent).

Click for photos of John Wayne Airport on Thanksgiving.

---

LAX 2nd In Nation For Close Calls On Runway - CBS2
 
According to the General Accounting Office, three of the five southern California airports are rolling the dice at an alarming rate. Over the past seven years, through August, LAX ranks second in the nation in runway incursions – another name for close calls – with 64.

John Wayne sixth with 49

Long Beach ninth with 41.

And LAX is No. 1 in serious incursions with 10.

---

America's Most Time-Draining Airports - Forbes.com

O'Hare is the nation's worst airport for delays, according to Forbes' analysis of 2007 Bureau of Transportation statistics for 100 of the nation's largest airports. It earns this unenviable title based on delays related to security, late aircraft, the national aviation system, cancellations, carrier problems and weather. Forbes also factored in the percentage of flights with on-time arrival and departures.

According to Forbes' statistics, LAX was number 86 where 1 is the best and 100 the worst on the list. The Los Angeles airport benefited by having fewer weather related delays. It suffered from a 99 out of 100 ranking for security related delays.

San Diego ranked better at 65, a fairly good showing amongst major airports.

Orange County airport won a respectable number 38 and Ontario and Burbank scored a bit better.

---

Week of November 17 - November 23, 2008

John Wayne Airport makes way for expansion - OC Register

It could be said that a lot of progress is being made on the costliest expansion in John Wayne Airport’s history. It could also be said that part of the airport looks like a war zone.

Literally just a few feet from the terminal, where nothing seemed out of the ordinary, crews were using extra-large excavators to rip down parking structure walls and clear away mountainous piles of concrete and twisted steel.

In spring, once the structure is leveled, an expanded terminal and a new structure will be erected in its place; both are set to open in late 2011.
  
The $570 million expansion will add six gates, extra parking, more terminal space and a new airplane parking area, which is already complete but is being used for some travelers’ cars during the parking structure demolition and reconstruction.

Website Editor: Everyone, including the media, calls the addition of the airport's third terminal an "expansion" except airport management and county officials who evasively call it an "improvement program". The airport is limited, by an agreement negotiated with its neighbors, to serving 10.8 million passengers in 2011 and there are no proposals for utilizing the additional physical capacity to accommodate more flights and passengers after the costly project is complete.

To the contrary, Supervisor John Moorlach and his constituents in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach have begun a fight for zero growth in the airport's level of passenger service after the current agreement expires in 2015. This raises the question of why so much money is being spent on expanding JWA.

---

 Economy's woes dampen Inland travel outlook - Press-Enterprise

The two-week Thanksgiving travel window, which started Friday and will continue until Dec. 2, has become a veritable smorgasbord of hotel and airfare deals, but fewer travelers are expected to feast.

There will be 600,000 fewer travelers during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend who venture 50 miles or more from home this year, according to a recent AAA forecast.

The only modes of transportation showing increases are trains and buses.

Nationally, it's the fourth travel holiday in a row this year in which fewer travelers will take to the skies, rails and roads compared to a year ago, according to the report.

This month, Ontario International Airport will have 31.1 percent fewer seats than it did the year prior, the largest percentage drop of any U.S. airport, according to Official Airline Guide research, and the airport expects to see 30 percent less travelers during Thanksgiving as a result.

Only five U.S. airports are gaining seats -- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, Long Beach Airport, Richmond International Airport, Buffalo Niagara International Airport, and Portland International Airport in Oregon.

With airlines having cut their domestic capacity by about 10 percent, planes could appear full during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays but traffic counts nationwide are expected to fall for the first time since 2002.

---

JWA reports fewer flights - Daily Pilot

Passenger levels at John Wayne Airport were down more than 12%, and commercial carrier flight operations were down more than 11% from the same time last year.

While airport officials expect traffic to pick up between today and Dec. 2, fewer people will probably be traveling during the holidays than last year, said Jenny Wedge, a spokeswoman for the airport.

The Hawaiian air carrier Aloha Airlines ended service from John Wayne on March 31 after the airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The carrier flew about five flights a day out of John Wayne, Wedge said.

American Airlines ended nonstop service between Orange County and Austin, Texas, earlier this year, and Alaska Airlines dropped flights between John Wayne and Oakland in April.

Several air carriers are on a waiting list to begin service at John Wayne, Wedge said, including AirTran, WestJet, Virgin America and Horizon.

Air Canada, which is first in line on the waiting list, wants to begin international service to Canada from John Wayne, Wedge said. 

John Wayne has no customs and border patrol operations, and Air Canada has not signed a formal agreement with the airport, but the air carrier’s planes passed noise tests at John Wayne earlier this year.

“It’s looking pretty promising for them to begin operations sometime next year,” Wedge said.

Website Editor: The airline has been on the wait list since 2001.

---

Three new runways ready for takeoff today - Air Transportation Association

Three major airports are celebrating the opening of new runways today. The runway at Washington Dulles International Airport is the airport's fourth, and the first to be constructed since 1962. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport's runway is part of a larger project to eventually create eight parallel runways at the airport, eliminating any previously intersecting runways. And officials at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, thrilled at being able to operate more flights per hour safely in inclement weather, are already clamoring to add a fourth runway sometime in the near future.

---

Inland airports' dream of cargo hubs grounded - Press-Enterprise

When DHL planes leave March Air Reserve Base for good in January, the shipper will take with it March's best chance of ever becoming a cargo hub, according to a cargo consultant.

Expectations that March Air Reserve Base would handle 80 percent of Riverside County's air cargo and support eight companies flying freight in and out everyday by 2010 have become highly unlikely.

March's cargo dreams were set in motion in a Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) report released in 1994, two years before the airport was officially downgraded to a reserve base.

In it, the authors of the Southern California Military Air Base Study said hopes that March or Norton (in San Bernardino) could become viable airports for passenger airlines were highly unlikely with Ontario International Airport nearby. But the viability of air cargo service at March was "undeniable."

For years, three former air bases in Riverside, San Bernardino and Victorville  pinned their job growth wishes and cargo dreams on the expectation that Los Angeles International Airport would fill up and companies would need to land elsewhere.

---

LAX expects decline in Thanksgiving travel - Daily Breeze

About 1.6 million travelers are expected to make their Thanksgiving pilgrimage through Los Angeles International Airport during the 10-day surge that begins Friday, marking a dramatic 14.3 percent drop from the same period last year, airport officials said.

The decline comes as LAX is losing nearly 20 percent of its flights and 13 percent of available airline seats this month, compared to November 2007.

LAX's sister airport, LA/Ontario International Airport, is expected to handle about 147,000 airline passengers, a 30 percent drop from last year.

---

Officials working to direct flights away from LAX - Daily Pilot

Los Angeles airport officials are in the midst of creating an office to encourage airlines to direct flights away from bustling LAX to regional airports, such as Ontario International Airport, but John Wayne Airport is not included in the plans.

“Regionalization, if it is to take place, needs to focus on ways to get passengers, especially those in central and northern Orange County, including Disneyland vacationers, to turn to Ontario Airport for their air travel needs, not JWA,” [Melinda Seely, President of the local airport activist group AirFair] said.

Website Editor: The Daily Pilot article directly contradicts the Times report below that says John Wayne Airport is included in Los Angeles plans. We are seeking clarification.

---

L.A. airport officials aim to spread growth beyond LAX - LA Times

Reacting to United Airlines' decision to pull out of the L.A./Palmdale Regional Airport in December, officials for Los Angeles World Airports on Monday reiterated their support for spreading some of the future growth in air travel to other airports in the region instead of busy LAX.

L.A. airport officials told the Board of Airport Commissioners that they would create an Office of Regionalism, answerable to agency director Gina Marie Lindsey, and continue marketing efforts to encourage airlines to expand flights at other airports, such as L.A/Ontario International, John Wayne in Orange County and Bob Hope in Burbank.

They also said they would support improvements to ground transportation serving those airports, including bus routes, commuter rail lines and high-speed trains, such as the longstanding proposal to build a maglev train to Ontario International.

The airport agency's action coincides with a recent announcement by the city of Palmdale that it would assume the leases for Palmdale airport facilities and take primary responsibility for attracting passenger service to the airport.

---

LAX modernization unveiled - Daily Breeze

City officials on Monday unveiled a modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport that would cost an estimated $5 billion to $7 billion and pay homage to the Pacific Ocean.

Plans call for a dramatic remodeling of the Tom Bradley International Terminal and a new Midfield Satellite Concourse, resulting in the addition of 32 new airline gates capable of accommodating newer, wide-bodied jetliners.

The first phase, set for completion in mid-2013, calls for remodeling the Bradley terminal and building six new aircraft gates capable of handling super-jumbo jets, such as the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. By 2012, LAX is expected to serve more A380 flights than any other airport in North America.

Plans also call for building a new passenger processing center, several taxiways and a people mover tram that winds its way around the entire airport.

---

Bradley International Terminal designs to be unveiled - Daily Breeze

Southern California's beach culture will play a prominent role in proposed designs for the revamped Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX, set to be unveiled on Monday.

While the "official" concept has been kept under wraps, some people have said the undulating rooftop resembled "crashing waves."

Others have described the architectural concept as a set of "billowing sails" passing through Los Angeles International Airport.

City and airport officials will hold a news conference Monday to unveil a series of renderings designed by Denver-based Fentress Architects, which was awarded a $41.5million, three-year contract earlier this year.

"I'm hopeful that everybody likes it because, I have to admit, it is very impressive," said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX.

With all the starts and stops from the two previous mayoral administrations, airport and city officials said they are confident that their latest plan will actually go from concept to reality.

---

SCAG gets forecasting input from another source

Michael Armstrong, Aviation Program Manager for the Southern California Association of Governments, SCAG, updated the organization's Aviation Technical Advisory Committee last week on what he heard at an aviation forecasting summit conducted by the Boyd Group of aviation consultants.

Michael Boyd, President of the group made these predictions for air travel emplanements:


The figures are substantially less rosy that the growth projections generated by SCAG's regular consultants and used, for years, to drive the regional transportation plan.

---

Week of November 10 - November 16, 2008

Burbank City Council Preview - Burbank Leader

A noise-reducing measure at Van Nuys Airport, which could transfer more than 200 flights per year to Bob Hope Airport, will once again be a topic for council discussion. Members are expected to issue an official comment on the plan.

Council members have in the past objected to shifting flights from Van Nuys to Burbank, just as officials at other regional airports opposed a transfer in flights that could result if Bob Hope’s proposed nighttime curfew is approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Website Editor: We recently have seen several expressions of airport NIMBYism as John Wayne Airport neighbors seek to divert passengers to Ontario by bus or train, LAX neighbors promote regionalization to other airports, Long Beach agrees as long as the shift is not to their airport and March AFB neighbors exalt in the end of air cargo flights.

---

JetBlue pilots want to unionize - Newsday

Pilots at JetBlue Airways Corp. have filed a petition to establish an independent union, becoming the first group of employees at the discount carrier to organize.

The JetBlue Pilots Association said on its Web site it has filed papers with the National Mediation Board for the right to bargain for 2,000 workers. JetBlue is the largest carrier in the nation without organized labor groups.

Michael Sorbie, a JetBlue captain, said "We have complete faith in our current company leadership and believe that this will be a cooperative effort. As our airline matures, we want to ensure that the career expectations of our pilots will remain intact regardless of organizational changes."

---

Authority makes noise about plan - Burbank Leader
Airport group doesn’t want high-decibel planes kicked out of Van Nuys and moved to Burbank.

The Burbank- Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority voted Monday to oppose a proposed plan to phase out older, noisier airplanes from Van Nuys Airport, citing concerns that the planes will be sent to Bob Hope Airport.

Authority members argued that the draft Environmental Impact Report regarding the Van Nuys Airport Noisier Aircraft Phaseout Project “vastly understates” the number of noisier Stage 2 airplanes that would be sent to Bob Hope Airport in attempt to set a daytime curfew for the older planes, airport spokesman Victor Gill said.

“We’re saying it’s not legal, not fair, to send all planes to Bob Hope,” he said.

But Van Nuys Airport officials said no more than 192 flights would be arriving at and leaving from Bob Hope Airport each year.

---

JWA to ease up on allowing new air carriers

On November 18, the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote to ease some of the restrictions on new air carriers seeking to serve John Wayne Airport. The proposed changes to the County's Access Control Plan are recommended by airport management. The change is being proposed as the airport experiences a serious slump in business. See report below.

John Wayne has a history of making it tough for new airlines on its waiting list to gain entry, as well as for existing carriers to expand. 

Alaska Airlines, in a letter commenting on the proposed changes, wrote,  "Air Carriers serving the John Wayne Airport struggle to grow in this highly regulated environment . . . Alaska has been requesting additional ADD's (Average Daily Departure allocations.)"

Southwest Airlines, referring to the 1995-96 Plan Year (but possibly meaning 2005-06), notes that "the allocation to Southwest  Airlines was less than allocated during the preceding Plan Year and, as a result, Southwest Airline  had no choice but to reduce our operations at John Wayne Airport."

With the proposed change in the county's rules, new entrant airlines will be allowed three average daily departures rather than being restricted to two ADD's which has been long standing practice. Virgin America, seeking to serve JWA, wrote that "it would be difficult to cover all of the costs of the operation with only two round trip flights per day." AirTran made similar comments.

The change should make it more attractive for new air carriers to fill the vacant slots at John Wayne.

---

More aboard - OC Register
Ridership jumps on county’s bus and rail lines, though airport traffic is down.

Southern Californians ditched high gas prices and rush-hour traffic to hop aboard county buses in record numbers last month, according to figures released Monday. Metrolink, the commuter-locomotive railway, also experienced a sizable ridership boost.

Meanwhile, air travel is down – way down from a year ago.

At John Wayne Airport, the number of passengers dropped to 731,985 in October – a 12.2-percent decrease from last October. Website Editor: It was the airport's 12th consecutive down month.

And the future isn't looking so hot, either. According to the Official Airline Guide's Analytical Services, domestic flights are expected to fall by nearly 11 percent this winter.

---

DHL closing hubs, including March - Press Enterprise

DHL, the German global shipping giant, will stop shipping within the United States on the ground and in the air effective Jan. 30, 2009, according to an announcement from the company early today.

The company will close its 262,000-square-foot hub at the March Air Reserve Base by the end of January, said Lori Stone, executive director of the March Joint Powers Authority which oversees redevelopment of the former air force base.

The sole international flight into and out of March Air Reserve Base was moved to LAX last month. The remaining four daily flights connected cities inside the United States.

When DHL arrived in October 2005 at the March Air Reserve Base, its western hub, it was hailed by most local government leaders as a key to bringing high-paying jobs to the base and derided by residents living below the company's late-night cargo plane flight path.

For more on the DHL-March story see this followup article in the Press-Enterprise.

---

Needed: Palmdale Airport - Press-Telegram editorial

Website Editor: The Long Beach newspaper editorial closely replicates one posted below from the LAX area Daily Breeze except for the parenthetical addition of its own NIMBY twist.  Will we see the same opinion posted in the Burbank and Newport Beach newspapers, endorsing airport regionalization pressure everywhere other than in their own back yards?

---

Week of November 3 - November 9, 2008

Improvements in LAX security reported by Israeli consultants - LA Times

Israeli officials who have been working with local authorities to improve security at Los Angeles International Airport said Friday that substantial progress has been made to prevent a terrorist attack at LAX, one of the nation's main international gateways.

The three security experts from Ben Gurion International Airport -- regarded as one of the safest in the world -- are part of a cooperative arrangement with LAX to provide consulting services.

Los Angeles airport officials credit the Israelis with a number of improvements at LAX, which has been identified as a primary terrorist target. They include surveillance technology, police checkpoints and barriers to prevent vehicles from crashing into terminals. In addition, the airport has increased the presence and visibility of its police force.

---

Abandoning Palmdale - Daily Breeze editorial

For residents of greater Los Angeles, who know all too well the miseries of the 405 Freeway and LAX, airport regionalization is a no-brainer. If we could distribute our traffic between multiple airports - like other major U.S. metropolises do - we could ease up freeway congestion, reduce air pollution and greatly improve the quality of life throughout Southern California.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, the airlines and city leaders like Los Angeles International Airport exactly the way it is. For the airlines, funneling a staggering 61million passengers through LAX each year means needing to staff only one facility. For City Hall, it means getting to keep all airport-related sales-tax revenues.

Oh sure, city leaders say they support regionalization. But they will latch on to any excuse they can find to drop the idea.

Just look at the way they're now bailing out on Palmdale. More . . .

---

In downturn, LAX in tough fix on improvements - LA Times

Amid one of the worst economic downturns in the history of the airline industry, Los Angeles International Airport is shedding passengers faster than its peers across the country, threatening the revenue stream needed to modernize its aging facilities.

In September, international and domestic travel through LAX declined 7.3% compared with the same time last year. Cargo plummeted about 17%. This is the biggest monthly drop in traffic this year, and even more declines are expected.

If the airline prophets are correct, LAX could see between 53 and 55 million travelers next year, down from 62.4 million in 2007 and 67.3 million in 2000. One prominent aviation consultant predicts that by 2014, LAX will have 10.5% fewer passengers than today, largely because it is not a home base for any airline.

Yet airport leaders are confident they can deliver needed improvements to the Tom Bradley International Terminal by 2012 and set the stage for the overall modernization of LAX, which has been planned for 11 years under three mayoral administrations.

---

High Speed rail measure wins

The Secretary of State reports:
99.5% ( 25,318 of 25,423 ) precincts partially or fully reporting as of Nov. 5, 2008, at 3:44 p.m..

---

Plan to bar jets at airport during the day is voted down - LA Times

Operators of Bob Hope Airport on Monday voted to oppose a plan to eliminate the noisiest jets at Van Nuys Airport during the day -- a proposal they say would violate federal law and shift the loudest aircraft to Bob Hope and other airports in Southern California.

The vote by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority is the latest development in a bitter battle over attempts to bar noisy aircraft at Bob Hope and Van Nuys, a general aviation facility operated by Los Angeles World Airports.

---

San Diego not immune from airline slump

Air travel at San Diego's Lindbergh Field dropped in September to 8.9 percent below its 2007 level. 

However, on a nine months year-to-date basis, SAN traffic remains 1.8 percent ahead of last year.

San Diego is the only major commercial airport in Southern California to see more passengers this year than in the same period in 2007.

---

Week of October 27 - November 2, 2008

Vote Yes on 1A - El Toro Info Site report

This web site supports the creation of a high speed rail system in California, connecting the North with the South and the South with Las Vegas. The reasoning is simple - much of the rest of the world has long realized that trains are a good way to move passengers over distances that can be covered in less than a day.

A rail network saves fuel, provides weather-free hassle-free safe transportation, and eliminates the need to expand noisy polluting airports over the objections of their neighbors.

Prop 1A would launch such a rail project. We encourage readers to check an article in this weekend's LA Times - Prop 1A's bullet train would speed L.A.'s growth.

---

Airport capacity outstripping demand as airlines cut back - Air Transportation Association

Excerpting from the NY Times, ATA SmartBrief reports a building boom at U.S. airports is adding vast new capacity -- just as airlines cut their service by up to 20%. With new runways and new terminals opening across the country, "congestion is kind of a thing of the past" for many passengers, according to Northwest Airlines CEO Douglas M. Steenland. But the billion-dollar construction projects are paid for with "other people's money," says Southwest Airlines chief Gary C. Kelly, and some within the industry are calling for a halt to the building boom.

Website Editor: This site repeatedly has reminded that the proposed El Toro Airport would be a costly cash drain today had voters not overturned the plans of their elected county leaders. We also question how Orange County intends to utilize the half-billion dollar third terminal being launched at John Wayne Airport.

---

Kogerman named to state parks board

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named Bill Kogerman to the State Park and Recreation Commission. The nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

Kogerman led the volunteer effort to pass Orange County Measure F, the Safe and Healthy Communities Act, in 2000. Passage of Measure F stalled county government's push to convert the former Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro to a commercial airport.

Kogerman then played a major role in the 2002 passage of Measure W, the Orange Central Park and Nature Preserve Initiative.  Measure W changed zoning of the former base in the County General Plan to low density non-aviation uses. Subsequently, the property was annexed to the City of Irvine, rezoned for a mix of uses including the Orange County Great Park and sold by the Navy.
 
Kogerman now serves as a member of the board of directors of the Great Park.

---

Local air travel drops 3.4 percent from last year. - El Toro Info Site report

Data collected from Los Angeles International, John Wayne, Bob Hope, LA/Ontario, Long Beach and Palm Springs airports show a collective drop of 3.4 percent for the first nine months of this year when compared with 2007.

Airport	9 months 2007	9 months 2008	% Change
LAX	46,950,441	46,196,441	-1.6
SNA	7,629,513	6,918,543	-9.3
BUR	4,456,904	4,140,637	-7.1
ONT	5,420,537	4,934,309	-9.0
LGB	2,225,233	2,196,682	-1.3
PSP	1,191,826	1,166,428	-2.1
Regional Total	67,880,087	65,555,582	-3.4

LAX, which took the brunt of the slide in air travel after September 11, 2001, is holding up better in the current travel slump than its local competitors . There are two principal reasons. 1) International travel is off by only 0.3 percent with most of the falloff occurring in domestic travel. 2) For economic reasons, airlines are concentrating their flights at major hubs versus using smaller airports.

---

Regional air travel in 2008 below pre-9-11 level - El Toro Info Site report

For the first eight months of 2008, a total of 59,271,103 passengers used the six commercial airports in the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) transportation planning region. This was 1.5 percent fewer than the number that flew in the same period ending August 2001.

SCAG's Regional Transportation Plan for 2001 predicted that aviation demand would increase by an average of 2.7 percent per year, producing 20 percent growth by now.

The slump in actual air travel demand illustrates the danger of forecasting continuous growth and basing costly airport development plans - such as those for El Toro - on these assumptions.

---

Appellate case on [Santa Monica] airport jet ban to be heard Nov. 19 - The Argonaut

The Ninth District Appellate Court will hear arguments from Santa Monica officials on the controversy surrounding the city's decision to prohibit certain aircraft from using its municipal airport on Wednesday, November 19th in Pasadena.

Santa Monica is seeking judicial relief in the appellate court following a lower court ruling that forbade the city from implementing an ordinance that would ban larger, faster jets from Santa Monica Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration filed a restraining order against the city on April 28th after the ban was passed to prevent the ordinance from taking effect.

Website Editor: The city had planned to begin enforcing the ban for jets that have approach speeds of between 139 and 191 mph, including aircraft popular with executives, such as the Gulfstream IV, Bombardier Challenger 604 and Cessna Citation X.

---

Ontario takes a big hit in September

Passenger volume at LA/Ontario airport for September was 26 percent less than in the same month last year.  The loss of ExpressJet service to 15 non-stop destinations hurt the airport.

With nine month volume at 4,934,309 passengers, the airport has a long way to go before hitting the 10 million passenger threshold at which officials planned to add a third terminal.

---

LAX reports a slow September

September domestic and international travel at LAX both were off by over 7 percent from 2007 levels.

Year to date, the airport has seen 2 percent fewer travelers.

---

Palmdale has its best month since reopening, but . . .

It is too little and too late . . . After United Airlines doubled its number of flights from Palmdale, using smaller aircraft, passenger volume increased in September to the highest figure since the airport reopened.

However, the minuscule volume - 2,359 passengers - is unlikely to change the airline's decision to abandon the money losing route.
Click here for previous news reports