Airport commission to discuss LAX expansion

The 11:30 a.m. luncheon meeting - usually held in Palmdale on a Tuesday - is scheduled this week at the Essex House Hotel in Lancaster on Wednesday, according to commission president Jean Ray, owner of Sierra Travel Service.

Ray said two of the program presenters will be from the consulting firm that developed a longrange plan to guide LAX expansion through the year 2015. The third speaker is Michael DeGiralomo, the airport department's director of operations.

The master plan at this point is made up of four expansion options - all of which ran into a buzz-saw of early opposition from communities neighboring LAX, including officials in the cities of El Segundo, Hawthorne, Playa Del Rey and Westchester.

Although the L.A. Department of Airports owns 17,000 acres east of Palmdale, and operates a passenger terminal at Palmdale Regional Airport on Air Force Plant 42, under a joint-use agreement with the Air Force, neither Palmdale site is mentioned in connection with solutions to LAX growth needs.

The Department of Airports reportedly considered some 30 different growth concepts before settling on the four now under consideration.

Since the Department of Airports made its master-plan concepts public, several Antelope Valley leaders have suggested that the city of Palmdale or a consortium of AV cities and the county take over the existing airport operation from the Department of Airports. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich was one of those, offering his suggestion in the opening speech at this year's Antelope Valley Business Outlook Conference.

The Department of Airports believes its passenger traffic will nearly double to some 98 million passengers a year over the next 20 years, while air cargo tonnage is expected to more than double to 4.1 million tons by the year 2015.

The four expansion concepts in the master plan face environmental reviews beginning next month.
- a process expected to take at least a year, and perhaps up to 18 months.

Each of the four LAX masterplan design ideas shares: A new western terminal building near the El Segundo Bluffs; a people-mover system and expanded cargo-handling buildings.

The four concepts differ in peak passenger capacities, number of houses to be acquired and demolished, and how existing terminals would be used or demolished and rebuilt. Three of the four concepts would require new runway construction, while the other would route commuter flights to Hawthorne Municipal Airport for busing to LAX.

Howard Brooks, program chairman for the Palmdale Regional Airport Commission, said he expects there will be a lot of questions for speakers Wednesday on the Antelope Valley's air transportation future in light of the LAX master plan.

Although the luncheon is open to the public, reservations are required at $12 per person for the buffet. Call 272-1578 or 266-7602.