John Wayne Airport negotiations to begin in
secret – El Toro
Info Site report
Newport
Beach resident and activist Jim Mosher chided his
City Council, this month, for entering into confidential discussions
with the
County regarding the future utilization of John Wayne Airport. Mosher reminded the Council of previous
negotiations over the airport that he said were conducted “behind
closed doors”
with the public “cut out of the discussions.”
Mosher
complained that participants in the coming
negotiations, that will set limits on the airport after current
passenger caps
expire in 2015, must sign confidentiality agreements.
Council
Member Leslie Daigle confirmed that the County negotiations
will be confidential and said that the City Council will be advised of
the
directions being taken in Executive Session which will be closed to the
public
and press.
Clues to the secretiveness may be found in comments by
Airport Director Alan Murphy who was quoted in the media as telling a
meeting
of interested local citizens, “This time around, the air carriers are
‘the true
enemy,’ Murphy said. ‘The FAA is really
going to look to the airlines to see if it's a good deal or not.’"
This quote, if accurate, suggests that Murphy has taken sides with
Newport
Beach residents against the airlines and passengers who use and pay for
the
airport. A significant part of the cost of the airport’s recent
half-billion
dollar physical expansion was funded by a $4.50 “passenger facility
charge” that
travelers must pay on each airline ticket.
There is no information as to whether the flying public or
the Orange County business community will be allowed meaningful
participation
in the negotiations.
In 2001, Newport Beach and the County reached agreement
on a plan for expanding JWA which met with airline opposition. The
number of allowed boarding gates thereupon was increased to gain air
carrier and FAA approval.
That plan was completed this year when John Wayne Airport added a
nearly 300,000
square foot third terminal and 2,000 parking spaces. The upcoming
negotiations will
decide the extent to which this added physical capacity will be
utilized to
provide more flights to more destinations. The FAA has projected
substantial
future need for airport capacity that must be met in Southern
California.
L.A.
airport board discusses closing one Ontario terminal - LA Times
Because
passenger traffic at L.A./Ontario International Airport is continuing
to drop, officials began to explore closing one of the airport's two
terminals.The idea comes as Ontario International finds itself among the fastest-declining midsize airports in the country. A pillar of pride for the Inland Empire, the sprawling facility — owned and operated by the city of Los Angeles — lost a third of its 7.2 million passengers during the economic downturn between 2007 and 2010. The airport is on track to have as many passengers this year as it saw in 1987. Nationally, only Cincinnati is shedding travelers at a faster pace.
December 12 - December 25, 2011
LAX up, ONT down
Los Angeles International Airport saw a 3.7 percent increase in passengers in November. Year-to-date LAX traffic was up 5.2 percent.
LA/Ontario Airport traffic was down by 5.6 percent in November and by 5.3 percent for the first eleven months of 2011.
December 5 - December 18, 2011
Fewer fliers choosing Bob Hope Airport - Burbank Leader
Passenger numbers at Bob Hope Airport took another nose dive in October, dropping 4.7% compared to the same period last year, officials said this week.
Though the impact to parking revenues was not available this week, the drop in passengers is almost sure to be a drag on those revenues.
The confluence of declining figures was cited by the credit rating agency Fitch earlier this year when it warned that the AA- rating for the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority could be threatened in the future, especially as officials pursue a $90-million transit center.
For the period covering January through October, 3.58 million passengers have traveled through Bob Hope Airport, a 3.7% decrease from the 3.72 million users during the same period last year.
Passenger figures at other regional airports varied greatly. Ontario Airport reported a 10.3% plummet, while John Wayne Airport saw its number edge down 0.8%. Los Angeles International Airport continued its passenger growth with a 2.7% jump.
[Long Beach] Airport Seeks Strategic Airfield, Business Plans - Gazette.com
Long Beach Airport officials asked the City Council for approval Tuesday to move forward with an airfield geometry study and airport strategic plan.
Airport Director Mario Rodriguez said LGB currently does not have a business or master plan, and a business plan would help the airport handle future contingencies and run the airport more cost-efficiently.
“We don’t have a business plan, and we need to have one,” Rodriguez said. “The airport needs to run like a commercial venture, and we need to seriously think about things that could happen in the future and set goals… That way we can better mitigate the possible loss of an airline or Boeing or the cost of fuel going up — things that are normal in the business world.”
A geometry study would help airport officials determine if changes need to be made to the layout of airplane runways, including the possible closure of one or more runways that are infrequently used, Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said the airport needs to continue looking at other ways to redesign and improve efficiency outside of the modernization projects underway.
November 28 - December 4, 2011
Ontario faces more traffic losses into 2012 - Press-Enterprise
There are a third fewer travelers using Ontario International Airport since 2007 and there's bound to be even fewer passengers using the airport in the coming months based on schedules that show how many flights and seats the airport's airlines are offering through July.
Southwest Airlines for one, which carries more than half of all of departing and landing travelers at Ontario, had 37 fewer flights in November versus a year ago and as a result, about 4,109 fewer seats to sell, according to statistics from research firm UBM Aviation Worldwide Ltd.
At least 150 fewer flights will be offered at the airport some months.
Local politicians have seen something sinister in the airport's shrinking traffic, with Reps. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, and Ken Calvert, R-Corona, most recently imploring the U.S. Transportation Secretary to help save the airport owned and operated by the city of Los Angeles.
Officials with the city of Ontario have spent two years blaming the airport's bleeding on the airport's owner saying LA has neglected the Inland destination in favor of its other airport, LAX, making it more costly for airlines to do business there and not spending any money on marketing. The city of Los Angeles and airline industry experts have countered saying Ontario's costs may be high but the decline is economically motivated with airlines hunting for profits at larger hubs.
The only Southern California airport to see an increase in passengers in the three years since 2007 was Long Beach Airport which grew by just 2.6 percent. John Wayne Airport's traffic out of Orange County dropped 13.5 percent, Palm Springs dropped 6.9 percent and Burbank dropped 24.1 percent. LAX in that time had 4.2 percent fewer passengers.
At 31.5 percent, Ontario's losses have been the steepest among its Southern California neighbors and similar sized airports that lost 12 percent to 18 percent of their passenger traffic.
The cost for airlines to do business at Ontario International Airport on a per passenger basis has been among the highest in Southern California. Latest cost per enplaned passenger figures at each Southern California airport:
Ontario: $11.76
LAX: $11.23
John Wayne: $11.13
San Diego: $7.54
Long Beach: $6.50
Palm Springs: $3.70
Burbank: $2.10
JWA passenger traffic down slightly in October; flight operations decrease.
Airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport decreased in October 2011 as compared to October 2010. In October 2011, the Airport served 726,513 passengers, a decrease of 0.8% when compared to the 732,106 passenger traffic count of October 2010.
Commercial aircraft operations decreased 2.8%, while Commuter aircraft operations decreased 10.5% when compared to the levels recorded in October 2010.
General aviation activity, which accounted for 64% of the total aircraft operations during October 2011, decreased 8.3% when compared to October 2010.
Monday expected to busiest at LAX - OC Register
John Wayne Airport was declared by Orbitz to be among the least crowded with holiday travelers, while LAX bumped Chicago O'Hare off the No. 1 slot for busiest airports this year.
While LAX is expected to take in the bulk of Thanksgiving holiday travelers Monday, officials at John Wayne Airport projected Sunday as its busiest day.
Typically at JWA, it's the return days of Saturday, Nov. 26 and Sunday, Nov. 27 that see the most consistent busy periods, airport officials said. In 2010, 187,028 passengers traveled through JWA during the week of Thanksgiving.
Officials said that overall passenger volume at LAX has not yet returned to 2007 levels, when passenger volume reached its highest post-9-11 level before dropping again due to the past few years' economic difficulties.
