Logo  NEWS BLOG - LATEST HEADLINES

Week of December 22 - December 28, 2008

2008 – The SoCal Airport Year in Review

The El Toro Info Site has tracked Southern California Airport developments on a daily basis since 1996. Check the website’s 2007 Airport Year in Review to see how quickly air travel sentiment turned from bullish to skittish.   

This year, SoCal air travel slid to below pre-9-11 levels, upsetting government planning forecasts and raising questions about the reasonableness of growth assumptions.

If growth is coming, then little was done to increase airport capacity in the region to accommodate it. Any airport plans and construction in the works are officially labeled as “improvements” or “modernization” rather than “expansions”.

Efforts to coordinate airport operations, in order to regionalize travel away from LAX, backslid with the demise of the regional airport authority, failure of the heavily subsidized Palmdale operation and a major loss of service at Ontario.

Here were some of the year's top stories.

January Southern California air travel set a record in 2007 but starts to taper off.

The Southern California Regional Airport Authority gives up the ghost again due to pervasive unwillingness to expand airports - unless it is in someone else's back yard.

February – Free bus service is launched in an attempt to lure passengers to Palmdale.

Long Beach wins court approval to proceed with a terminal expansion but no increase in flights.

Newport Beach groups seek to cap John Wayne Airport forever at 10.8 million annual passengers when restrictions come up for renegotiation in 2011.

MarchBurbank officials complete an FAA application for a curfew that would move late night flights to another airport; L.A. objects.

April Santa Monica attempts to move noisy jets elsewhere; meets FAA resistance.

May – First quarter regional air travel dips below its 2007 level.

Construction of new third terminal and parking structures at John Wayne raises local concerns as to whether the “improvements” will bring more flights.

June – LAX’s south runway is relocated to improve safety, finally overcoming long opposition from Inglewood neighbors.

JulyLong Beach reacts to the economic slowdown by announcing a delay in its parking and terminal improvement project.

ExpressJet service – heralded in 2007 as a major step towards regionalization – will stop operating in September after less than a year of providing non-stop flights from Ontario and Long Beach to smaller cities.

AugustSan Diego loses Zoom Airlines service to Europe after a brief failed attempt to reestablish overseas flights.

The Palmdale Flyer free bus is revealed as a costly flop, carrying less than 1 passenger per day. Free vans will replace busses.

SeptemberNewport Beach and Costa Mesa city officials join forces in attempt to block greater utilization of JWA; study ways to move passengers elsewhere.

October – Regional air travel falls below 2001 levels. Ontario - the only viable airport with few restrictions on its growth - experiences the steepest decline. Only San Diego air traffic does not drop.

November – State voters support high speed rail measure on ballot.

DHL decides to quit March Inland Port where it began flights in 2005. March had beat out Ontario and San Bernardino to land the air cargo hub. Airport neighbors celebrate the end of night time noise.

LAX unveils $5-7 billion “modernization” plan.

December - United become the eight airline to abandon Palmdale airport when multi-million dollar subsidies run out.

Audit of Los Angeles World Airports says “agreements with local residents limiting passenger volumes or aircraft movements” and the failure of any agency “to take ownership of the problem” bodes ill for L.A.’s regionalization concept.




Feinstein urges FAA to hire more controllers at LAX
- LA Times

Reiterating her call for more air traffic controllers, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Monday warned President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for Transportation secretary that chronic staff shortages at Los Angeles International Airport and the main radar facility that guides aircraft between airports pose an "alarming risk" to aviation safety in Southern California.

In a two-page letter to Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), Feinstein recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration take immediate steps to hire more controllers at LAX and the Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control in San Diego.




Air travel in region is down through November

For the first 11 months of 2008, air travel at the six airports of the SCAG region totaled approximately 4.8 percent less than in the same period in 2007.

The 2008 volume was about 3.7 percent less than in 2000, its highest point prior to the terrorist attacks of 2001.



How CEO kept Virgin America aloft in tough year
- San Francisco Chronicle

The rise in fuel prices, said Virgin America CEO David Cush, was more significant economically for the industry than the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, which chilled flying for a time.

Eight U.S. airlines failed in 2008, about 36,000 industry jobs will be lost by year's end and many airports across the country have lost commercial service as airlines contracted because of high fuel prices. And we're not out of the bog yet.

Cush has a two-pronged strategy to survive and, he hopes, thrive. Part one is to keep workers focused on the goal of providing a superior product at a good price. Part two is to pull back on ambitious growth plans that dated to a more bullish time.

Part [of his plan] was not to order as many airplanes as the company anticipated it would need when growth plans were written several years ago.

Virgin America's original plan was to rather quickly get up to as many destinations as possible, perhaps with an eventual ceiling of 30 cities. That target is still moving. Cush thinks the company is sized for 30 cities, although the number may eventually be less. "The acceptance we have in the urban areas is very strong, and we don't want to outgrow our model."

While growth has slowed, Virgin America is not stopped in its tracks. There were 17 airplanes in the fleet in May. There are 24 now and there will be 28 in February. Boston will be the carrier's eighth destination in what is largely a coast-to-coast route strategy for the airline. The other cities served are Las Vegas, New York, San Diego, Seattle and Washington.



Dip in LAX flights was no shock
- Daily Breeze


Los Angeles International Airport saw a 14 percent drop in airline passengers in November, marking the largest decline in travelers in a single month this year, according to figures released Tuesday.

The airport also handled 25 percent fewer air cargo shipments last month compared to the same period in 2007, reflecting the fact that consumers are purchasing fewer imports.

Airport officials said they are "not surprised" by the double-digit declines at LAX because the national recession has forced air carriers to cut flights, while travelers are opting to save their money rather than take to the skies.

Disturbing to local officials is the fact that only 1.16 million international travelers passed through LAX last month, a 13 percent decline from November 2007. Overseas flights generate more income for the local economy, and the losses only further hurt the region, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.



Ontario sees large drop in November


Passenger traffic at LA/Ontario airport dropped 30.6 percent in November compared to November 2007.

The airport served 414,832 travelers in the month.

Year to date traffic is off by 12.3 percent.



Week of December 15 - December 21, 2008

Fewer people may be heading out of town for the winter break
- OC Register

Despite drastically lower gas prices, Christmas travel will be down this year. About 5.3 million Southern Californians will travel at least 50 miles, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California, a drop of 1.9 percent.

The biggest difference will be at the airport, where 642,500 of our neighbors will take a flight – down 6.7 percent from last year. Part of the drop is because about 10 percent fewer seats are available than last year due to airline service cutbacks.

Holiday air travel out of John Wayne Airport is expected to drop about 10 percent this season compared to 2007. Last year, 207,902 people flew out of JWA during Christmas week.



October passenger totals tallied

Data collected from Los Angeles International, John Wayne, LA/Ontario, Bob Hope, Long Beach and Palm Springs airports (the Southern California Association of Governments planning region) shows a collective drop of 3.9 percent for the first ten months of this year when compared with 2007.

San Diego International Airport, which is not part of the SCAG region, posted a 1.1 increase in passenger traffic for the same period.

Airport
Passengers through October 2008
Passengers through October 2007
Percent change
LAX
50,881,353
51,928,341
-2.0
SNA
7,650,528
8,463,106
-9.6
ONT
5,395,439
6,027,737
-10.5
BUR
4,559,850
4,958,910
-8.0
LGB
5,439,900
2,458,357
-0.8
PSP
1,271,523
1,305,035
-2.6
Total
72,197,521
75,148,903
-3.9

Note: Percentage changes above may differ slightly from those recorded on individual airport websites because some airports amended their 2007 data after the initially posting

.



Is Virgin coming to Orange County and if so, when? - El Toro Info Site

We hope that Virgin America is coming to Orange County's John Wayne Airport this spring as reported in the press but there are mixed signals about the timing.

Whereas Air Canada applied for and passed the airport's noise tests nearly five months ago, prior to being added to the list of new carriers for 2009-10, Virgin America has yet to schedule the required flight tests.  The noise qualification and the finalizing of a lease agreement are being held up awaiting Board of Supervisors action which usually consists of approving airport management's recommendations.

Virgin asked to be inserted into the airport's draft plan for 2009-10 where numbers suggest it will operate five round trips for most of the year. If it does not do so, the hole left in the schedule when Aloha ceased flying will go largely unfilled.

A December 17 article in the San Francisco Business Journal offers this contradicting information that suggests we could be waiting a while for Virgin flights:

Known for its new planes, jazzy interiors, hip advertising and vast entertainment features, Virgin America said it will begin serving Boston in early 2009, marking the last new city the low-cost airline plans to add to its network for the coming year.

Since it began operations 16 months ago, Virgin America has grown to serve eight cities including Boston. But the carrier will stop adding new destinations as it seeks to reign in expenses and gain market share.

“We’re still the fastest growing U.S. startup airline of all time, so we’ve tapped the breaks as we intend to grow smart in the current economic climate,” said CEO David Cush. “We’re still growing and will ramp up growth in 2010 and beyond again.”



Long Beach Airport sees uptick in October traffic

Passenger traffic at Long Beach in October was up 4.3 percent over the same month in 2007.

Year-to-date, the airport served 0.8 percent fewer passengers than in the same ten months last year. The number of commercial air carrier and commuter flights was down by 0.5 percent and load factors remained constant at 78 percent.



Annex back nine and keep your word - Daily Pilot Community Commentary

Website Editor: Where there is smoke, there is fire. One member of the Airport Working Group writes this week that Orange County should divide John Wayne Airport in thirds between three bordering cities. Another, Thomas Anderson, who is also on the Newport Beach Aviation Committee, calls on the Board of Supervisors to annex the Newport Beach Golf Course to his city. Presumably, the idea is to make sure that use of the land, which sits in the John Wayne takeoff safety zone, is incompatible with expanded airport operations.

Anderson writes: John Moorlach, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, recently announced that because Orange County is expecting an $84-million budget gap next year, county officials may want to hand over unincorporated areas to other municipalities. I support Moorlach’s actions and believe for many reasons now is also the time for Moorlach to step up to the plate on the airport issue.

I support the annexation of the unincorporated area south of Bristol Street, which now serves as the back nine of the Newport Beach Golf Course. The property would no longer be a drain on the county, and it would demonstrate Moorlach’s commitment regarding further airport expansion.




L.A.'s plans for Palmdale airport land requested - LA Times
City's neglect of 17,000 acres purchased over four decades is hampering Antelope Valley, L.A. County supervisors say.

Reacting to the cancellation of passenger service this month at Palmdale Regional Airport, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday demanded that Los Angeles World Airports disclose its plans for the 17,000 acres it purchased in the high desert city but never developed into an international airport.

The action is the latest in an ongoing effort by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich to determine what county government can do to help attract carriers to the struggling airport, where eight airlines have come and gone since the early 1970s, including United, which ended service Dec. 7.

In the early 1970s, the [City of Los Angeles'] airport agency began buying land in Palmdale for a giant intercontinental airport that could handle 100 million passengers a year and accommodate SSTs, the supersonic passenger planes that are no longer in service. The property cost more than $100 million.



Audit finds improvements at L.A. airports
- LA Times

A new audit of Los Angeles World Airports found that its management and operations have improved during the past decade, but significant challenges remain related to emergency preparedness, spreading the future growth in air travel from busy LAX to regional airports, and Van Nuys Airport, which has lost money for more than a decade.

The 525-page report states that Los Angeles World Airports needs to work with airlines and other airports to place more flights at regional airports, such as Ontario International Airport, Bob Hope in Burbank, Long Beach Airport, and John Wayne Airport in Orange County.

. . .  participation in joint regional planning in the greater Los Angeles region is moribund because there ar no incentives for airports or cities to place regional needs ahead of local community demands. Burbank Bob Hope (BUR), Long Beach (LGB), John Wayne (SNA) and LAX have reached agreements with local residents limiting passenger volumes or aircraft movements. . .  This situation does not nurture a political environment that supports regionalism.

Probably the greatest challenge is that no individual or agency has taken ownership of the problem and its resolution. (Page I-6)



JWA projects lower passenger capacity for 2009-10

This week, John Wayne Airport management made public its airline capacity allocations for 2009-10. A draft of a report to the Airport Commission - on its way to the Board of Supervisors for approval - shows fewer seats being requested by air carriers and a significant change in airline mix.

The report does not include the airport manager's usual projection of how many passengers will fly next year. The airport is allowed to serve 10,300,000 annual passengers under an agreement with Newport Beach but is likely to serve fewer than 9,000,000 passengers in 2009. With less seats allocated to the airlines next year, the number of passengers could dip lower.

Airport management is moving to restore slumping passenger service by offering seat and departure space to airlines seeking to expand Orange County service.

For the first time in several years, current air carriers will be granted permission to fly all of the seats that they requested. Southwest Airlines, after repeated turndowns, will be allowed the additional capacity that it has long sought.

Air Canada and Virgin America will be allowed to move up from the airport’s waiting list of five potential new carriers.

The number of seats (not passengers) to be allocated amongst air carriers in 2009-10 totals 12,546,808. This is 326,992 fewer seats than were handed out a year ago for 2008-09 and 636,864 fewer than allocated two years ago for 2007-08.

The following table compares the seat allocations approved a year ago with the numbers proposed at this time. It shows the airport’s changing mix of airlines and provides clues to possible destinations to be served. Aloha Hawaii for now.

Air carrier or group

2008-09 seat allocation

2009-10 seat allocation

Air Canada

0

87,600

Aloha

544,608

0

American

1,979,952

1,499,488

Alaska/Delta/Northwest

3,015,862

2,500,468

Frontier

397,120

397,120

Southwest

3,172,098

4,405,920

United

1,654,764

1,115,524

USAirways/Continental/Mesa

2,108,396

2,120,764

Virgin America

0

419,924

Total

12,872,800

12,546,808




Week of December 8 - December 14, 2008

Virgin coming to JWA?
- OCRegister.com
Virgin America has applied to fly out of John Wayne Airport with service possibly beginning by spring.

JWA director Alan Murphy said today that the California-based affiliate of Virgin Atlantic is considering five flights a day from Orange County to its West Coast hub in San Francisco.

Currently, only United Airlines and American Eagle fly to San Francisco from JWA.  Website Editor: JWA travelers have had to pay high ticket prices because of this lack of competition.

Virgin’s application to fly out of JWA is only preliminary.  The Orange County Board of Supervisors, which oversees JWA, must first approve it.  If approved, it would be up to Virgin to decide whether to initiate service.

“At present, we have not made a decision either way about potential service to (JWA) — including flights and destinations, but (JWA) is certainly on the table as we explore our future expansion opportunities,” said Abby Lunardini, Virgin America spokeswoman.

JWA may also be getting its first international service.  Air Canada also has applied to fly out of Orange County.  Murphy said the airline has indicated it might want one flight a day but he did not know the destination in Canada.

John Reber, an Air Canada spokesman, said the airline had passed JWA’s noise requirements for service but “no decision has yet been taken as we haven’t finalized our flight schedule for next summer.”

To date, JWA has been unable to provide international service because it doesn’t have customs facilities.  Air Canada, however, provides U.S. customs at its airports so passengers can be screened there. Website Editor: This leaves a question as to why Air Canada has been kept on the waiting list for seven years.



John Wayne Airport sees continuing slide in November
- El Toro Info Site

Traffic at Orange County's John Wayne Airport dropped in November to 649,846 passengers. The number is 17.0 percent fewer than in November 2007 and
18.4 percent fewer than in November 2006 as the airport's slide continues.

For the first 11 months of 2008, total passenger traffic fell 10.2 percent below the previous year.

2008 is shaping up as John Wayne Airport's worst year since 2003. We project passenger volume for the calendar year to drop below 9 million - a million fewer travelers than the airport served in 2007.



Trying to understand the JWA slump
- El Toro Info Site

JWA is likely to finish calendar year 2008 down a million passengers from its 2007 level. This translates into several million dollars of lost Passenger Facility Charges ($4.50 per outbound ticket), landing fees, parking and concession revenue.

The economy has impacted all Southern California airports this year. The six airports comprising the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) region - LAX, Ontario, Burbank, Long Beach, Palm Springs and JWA - were down by a collective 3.4 percent for the first three quarters of the year but JWA saw the largest year-to-year drop of 9.3 percent.

San Diego's Lindbergh Field is maintaining its passenger volume this year as evidence that it can be done..

The bankruptcy of Aloha Airlines is a factor in JWA's slump. Aloha was forecasted by airport management to serve just over 300,000 passengers during the year. It operated through March and its shutdown probably accounted for a subsequent loss of 200-250,000 passengers.

This website attributes part of JWA's million passenger decline to the Board of Supervisors' decision to cut, by over 300,000, the number of seats allocated to airlines this year. In addition, the Board repeatedly rejected Southwest Airlines' proposals to add service for hundreds of thousands of additional passengers. Had the Board granted the requests to add flights from JWA's current airlines, the slump might have been less severe.

In addition, several airlines offering to provide new JWA service have been held off. Air Canada has been on the John Wayne waiting list for seven years.



Burbank airport's solar-powered hangar to be unveiled - LA Times

A team of Southern California developers is taking the wraps off what may be the world's greenest aviation facility, one capable of powering a Boeing 757 with solar energy while the aircraft is on the ground for maintenance.

The new 60,000-square-foot structure at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank is believed to be the industry's only solar-powered airport hangar. Its rooftop photovoltaic panels provide enough juice to operate the building's lights and to recharge electric-powered ground equipment such as forklifts and tow vehicles. The array can also keep an airplane's electrical system humming inside the hangar while mechanics perform their chores.


New tower on horizon for Palm Springs airport - The Desert Sun

The air traffic control tower at Palm Springs International Airport sits in a gulch that prevents air traffic controllers from seeing the end of the runway, which slopes about 75 feet.

The tower was constructed in 1967 and stands six stories high.

When completed, the new tower will be about twice the height of the original.

Local officials began pursuing a new $20 million tower in 2005. Palm Springs International is one of about 30 new air traffic control towers nationwide in line to be built.



3 on the ground killed in military jet crash in San Diego - OCRegister.com
2 houses destroyed when military jet hits University City area of San Diego.

A fighter jet returning to a Marine base after a training exercise crashed in flames in a San Diego neighborhood Monday, killing three people on the ground, leaving one missing and destroying two homes. The pilot of the F/A-18D Hornet jet ejected safely just before the crash around noon [2 miles from the] Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Website Editor: The incident is a reminder of a crash in Leisure World on the approach path to El Toro.


Note: A fourth body was discovered after this story was published.


Study: Extending rail to L.A./Ontario airport feasible - Metro Magazine
  
A 10-month study, which examined whether it is feasible to extend the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension from its planned terminus in Montclair to L.A./Ontario International Airport, showed that extending the light rail line to the airport is feasible and identified two preferred routes out of the 13 original route alternatives that were examined.

The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension board of directors will host open houses in the area to give residents a chance to learn about the preferred routes. The board narrowed the route options from the original 13 based on technical evaluations and extensive feedback from the public and key stakeholders.

The study is the first step in a process required by the federal government for eventual project funding. Now that the study is complete, the Gold Line Foothill Extension to L.A./Ontario International Airport is moving to the next phase, which involves more detailed environmental and engineering review.

A recent study conducted of likely voters in the San Gabriel Valley showed that nearly 90 percent of people residing in cities along the Gold Line Foothill Extension corridor would take the light rail line if it was extended to L.A./Ontario International Airport.




Bob Hope Airport passengers drop

Passenger traffic at Burbank's Bob Hope Airport declined by 16.9 percent in October from October 2007.

For the first 10 months of calendar 2008, total traffic was off by 8.05 percent.



Week of December 1 - December 7, 2008

United Airlines taxis down runway, departs
- Antelope Valley Press

Well, that was an interesting exercise.

Here's how it all began, as recounted on the front page of the Antelope Valley Press on June 8, 2007:

"Perhaps a sign of good things to come, the first United Express flight from San Francisco arrived at the terminal about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

"Passengers disembarked between velvet ropes and onto a red carpet for the short trek across the tarmac and into the terminal.

"They were greeted by cheering crowds of well-wishers, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. . . Villaraigosa said it was the first time a Los Angeles mayor visited Palmdale officially since 1971, when Mayor Sam Yorty arrived on a similar mission.

The headlines since then have been anything but good. It didn't take long after the politicians left that passengers began to complain about high prices and bad connections.

Ultimately, United brought in smaller planes, and you knew it was just a matter of time before the announcement that the airline would cease service in Palmdale, having collected a $2 million subsidy and remaining here not one minute longer than their agreement required.

The Palmdale airport has a long history of passenger service that failed to live up to expectations.

Golden West Airlines and Hughes Air West began service when the facility opened in 1971. Golden West also offered service from 1977 to 1981.

Several other airlines operated off and on from the terminal through the decades, most recently Scenic Airlines' service to North Las Vegas Airport from December 2004 to January 2006. No one wanted to go to North Las Vegas Airport, they wanted to go to McCarran. So it failed.

There's an old adage in advertising that there's nothing you can do if the dogs don't like the dog food. It applies here because as much as people might want to make the airport viable, it's not going to be viable unless and until it offers a viable service people really want to use. With United's San Francisco connections, people sat down, did the math, considered the pros and cons, and went to Burbank or Los Angeles International Airport.

As for Mayor Villaraigosa, we haven't seen him around these parts lately.



Palmdale's "Shortcut to the Sky" short circuited
- El Toro Info Site

Flights between LA/Palmdale and San Francisco ended Saturday. It was another in a string of failed attempts to promote the north LA County facility as a poster child for airport regionalization.

This website's view has always been that unless a serious site search demonstrates that Palmdale is suitably located to warrant a major investment, the effort is merely a token political nod to advocates of regionalization. Major airports such as Denver International (1995), Dallas-Ft. Worth (1974) and Washington's Dulles (1962) were developed after extensive studies. They were launched with massive investments because they met a clear need. These airports justified their existence by quickly providing service to millions of passengers.

In the latest failed effort, Palmdale served around 35,000 passengers in the course of a year-and-a-half. It was a small drop in the regionalization bucket with LAX handling that number of travelers every few hours.

See more below and in earlier coverage of Palmdale's demise:



Review urged on Palmdale airport land -
The LA Daily News reports:

For more than 40 years, Los Angeles has held on to 17,000 acres of land near Palmdale's airport, hoping it could help solve congestion problems at Los Angeles International Airport.

And, for most of those years, other than sporadic studies, nothing has been done with the land. The latest effort to have a passenger airline operation at L.A./Palmdale Regional Airport will end this month when United Airlines pulls its single daily flight.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl called for a review of the city's plans for the land.

"It's time to get real," Rosendahl said during a meeting of the City Council's Trade, Tourism and Commerce Committee. "Should we just get out of the phoniness that we are planning something out there? We should look at the value of the land we have there and what we could get if we sold it."


 
Board gives airport last try
- Daily Breeze

"We have exhausted our possibilities, and we do not think there is a viable, near-term business plan for Palmdale airport," said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of LAWA, which also operates Los Angeles International, LA/Ontario International and Van Nuys airports.

After only 18 months of service, United Airlines is scheduled to end its four daily flights to San Francisco. A total of eight airlines have attempted to launch service at Palmdale airport since 1971, only to pull out after brief, unsuccessful runs.

As a result, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Palmdale Mayor James Ledford have worked to wrest control of Palmdale airport from LAWA and place it under local authority beginning later this month.

Antonovich's office is also examining whether the county can take back control of about 17,000 acres of land surrounding Palmdale airport. The city of Los Angeles used eminent domain to take control of the property about 40 years ago, promising to build a large airport.

"I don't want to say that we can't make this work," Airport Commissioner Valeria Velasco said. "I want to hear how we can make it work, and then make it happen."



LA's John Wayne airport readies for new flights and terminal
- Flightgobal.com

Website Editor:  "LA's John Wayne airport" ?

The United States' west coast market will likely become even more competitive next year as California's John Wayne airport expects to add service from up to two airlines in 2009.

Losing service from Aloha Airlines earlier this year accounts for roughly half of the facility's expected 10% passenger drop in 2008 from last year's record 9.98 million annual passengers, but the airline's closure leaves room previously unavailable for additional carriers, an airport spokeswoman says.

[The airport] has five airlines on its waiting list, with Air Canada at the top, the spokeswoman says.

While the Canadian carrier has not identified city pairs-airlines must obtain approval from airport owner Orange County-the earliest new additions could inaugurate service is in April, the John Wayne spokeswoman says.

Low-cost carriers Air Tran Airways and WestJet are next on list, followed by rivals Virgin America and Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon Air.


Why regionalization doesn't work - El Toro Info Site

Regionalization doesn't work the way government planners like because airlines fly where they want to (as long as airport operators make gates available) and at prices that they and their competitors set. Airline prices and schedules influence passengers' choices of airports.

Before United Airlines terminates its Palmdale service this weekend, we checked the fares for a hypothetical trip from LA/Palmdale to San Francisco International. A round trip, going north on Thursday and returning on Saturday, costs $926.50.

The United Airlines website showed the following fares for the same non-stop itinerary from the other Southern California airports.
         
Airport
United Airlines round trip non-stop fare, tax included
Palmdale
$926.50
Ontario
$931.00
Orange County
$759.00
Burbank
$612.00
LAX
$189.00
San Diego
$129.00

Other airlines may offer different prices. The fare from Long Beach to SFO on Delta is $140.



Airport Working Group financial data update

For many years, the Newport Beach-based Airport Working Group was the principal activist group in the fight to limit the growth of John Wayne airport and to build a second county airport at El Toro. The AWG was a party to the 1985 Settlement Agreement with the county and to the 2003 amendment that extended the agreement beyond its originally scheduled expiration.

This website began posting the financial data for the AWG when it was the conduit for over $3.6 million of City of Newport Beach taxpayer money funneled into the campaign over El Toro reuse.

In the lull between airport fights, AWG income has slipped below the level that requires the filing of a U.S. government Form 990. We still have brought our archive of AWG financial data up to date.

We do not expect the AWG to close down, as did other groups on both sides of the El Toro debate. The AWG is looking ahead 2-3 years when Orange County officials will consider extending the passenger caps on John Wayne rather than allowing them to expire..



Burbank, Van Nuys airports quarrel over noisy planes
- LA Daily News
FAA may need to settle issue

A raging noise battle between Burbank's national Bob Hope Airport and the general aviation Van Nuys Airport is getting, well, louder. And residents at both ends of the San Fernando Valley are losing sleep over it.

While the complex air battle has gone on for months and might ultimately have to be decided by federal aviation officials, it essentially boils down to this: Burbank wants to send 32 flights a day to Van Nuys to ease congestion. Van Nuys officials don't want any of Burbank's air traffic, but they want to divert their noisiest aircraft to Burbank and other airports.



Passengers spend nine hours grounded at L.A./Ontario Airport - Contra Costa News

Nearly 200 passengers on Monday spent nine hours aboard a grounded airplane at L.A./Ontario International Airport. The Airbus A-321 aircraft with 193 passengers was diverted to the Ontario facility due to fog.

The Taca flight from El Salvador landed in Los Angeles later Monday.

El Salvador-based Taca released a statement saying local authorities did not give permission for passengers to go through customs and enter the country.

However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Fleming said the airline did not ask for permission to let the passengers disembark.



Airport cuts back as numbers dip
- Burbank Leader

A persistent decline in the number of people willing to shell out for a plane ticket prompted Bob Hope Airport officials Monday to cutback on their own spending plans, deferring multimillion-dollar construction projects in the face of falling revenue.

Just four months into a fiscal year rife with market turmoil, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority voted unanimously Monday to adjust its capital improvement plan budget to reflect a 16.5% drop from last year in the number of passengers using the airport in October, a total of 419,213 people.

For the year, airport officials reported an 8% overall decline in passengers, a total of about 4.55 million.



San Diego is doing something right

San Diego's Lindbergh Field served 15,474,019 passengers in the first 10 months of 2008. While all other Southern California commercial airports experienced drops in passenger volume this year, San Diego saw 0.8 percent more passengers through October.

While Lindbergh Field passengers and air carriers are subject to the same fuel costs and economic problems that impact their neighbors to the north, SD airport management aggressively seeks additional airlines and strives to maximize passenger service to new destinations.


Click here for previous news reports