Airport hopes to get cargo carriers

DiGirolamo, who began working two months ago as director of operations for the Los Angeles Department of Airports, said he believes his history with both large and small airports will help him find business for all L.A. airports.

"A lot of consultants out there will tell you there's gold at the end of the runway, and there's not," DiGirolamo said. " `Build and it will come' isn't true when it comes to airports.

"There are plenty of airports around the world that are underutilized," he said. "Victorville's former George Air Force Base, Norton or even El Toro, in my opinion, will never develop into anything that is an economic benefit to the community."

Palmdale's resurgent aerospace industry might be a selling point to a smaller cargo carrier, he said. A possible advantage is good access to the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys and the northern San Fernando Valley.

Prior to his arrival in L.A., he served as deputy executive director for Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. And he's no stranger to L.A., having served 20 years in the L.A. Department of Airports. Ten of those years were spent at Ontario's air facilities promoting business growth.

"We are looking at short-term opportunities, like within six to eight months. This is not the flavor-of-the-month club. I plan to go to Palmdale once a month to get a feel for it. Ron Kochevar also is going to spend time with his staff and look at opportunities," DiGirolamo said.

Kochevar is the Van Nuys and Palmdale airport manager. Both DiGirolamo and Kochevar were an effective team in finding both commercial airlines and cargo operations for the Ontario airport, he said.

"Jack Driscoll (general manager of the department) was interested in me coming back because of my experience on the operational side. After talking to him, I was impressed with his vision for developing all of the LAX properties," he said.

In his new post, DiGirolamo is responsible for day-to-day operations at all department of airport sites, as well as developing business for each airport.

"What we have now is an underutilized facility at Palmdale. Driscoll said do what we can to get additional service - particularly in air cargo - at Palmdale. Basically, that's where we are headed," he said.

There are obstacles, however.

"On the passenger side, its going to be very, very hard. Airlines are not easily convinced. It's the chicken-or-the-egg concept. What we heard from the airlines in Ontario was, `We don't know if the business is there.' If you don't have the flights you don't know if the business is there," he said.

The solution in Ontario was finding a carrier - Alaska Airlines - that didn't want to work out of the same airports as all of the other carriers.

"I think we have to go after some of the new carriers. There may be some opportunities. The problem is, Southwest won't come unless they can put in a minimum of 10 flights. There is no way to support 10 flights out of Palmdale now," DiGirolamo said.

But he's ready to get started trying to attract some smaller carriers.

"We've got our work cut out for us. There are no guarantees, but we'll do what we can do," DiGirolamo said.

Then again, there's always cargo.

"On the cargo side, I'm a little more optimistic. I'm going to start looking at some of those opportunities. I'm going to get out and start looking around," he said.

He has been to Palmdale twice in the past two months, and he said there is some interest in developing some of the airport property. There are some inquiries into leasing industrial space, he added, and it's possible to expand some of the airport's agriculture opportunities.