Agreement sets demands for airport

Lt. Col. Robert Catlin, Air Force Plant 42 commander, told an informal breakfast gathering of Antelope Valley leaders that his review of the joint-use agreement for Plant 42 as Palmdale Regional Report turned up the limitation on Department of Airports' development at the adjacent site.

Catlin's report to the dozen-member discussion session, organized by L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, clarified the order in which development could occur at both the existing regional airport on Plant 42 and the adjacent undeveloped site owned by the city of L.A.

The report on the agreement may help Antelope Valley officials and economic development groups carry out strategies on how to deal with commercial aviation development and involve Valley leadership in master planning for Los Angeles International Airport expansion.

Catlin said the joint-use agreement for Plant 42 states the Department of Airports will not construct runways or buildings for a separate airport in Palmdale until there are 200 commercial air operations a day at the existing regional airport (Plant 42).

Each nonmilitary takeoff and landing counts as one commercial operation, he explained. General aviation flights are prohibited at Plant 42 except under emergency conditions.

Although commercial Palmdale Regional Airport's only regularly scheduled public airline service was shut down in April and no new carrier has emerged, Department of Airports officials have said they are seeking potential new air carriers.

Thursday morning's meeting was the second in a series of informal sessions Antonovich sought in response to Department of Airports master planning for Los Angeles Inter national Airport expansion - a plan in which both Palmdale's existing and future airports were conspicuously absent.

The LAX Master Plan, for which environmental reports are being written, is expected to propose $12 billion in spending to nearly double the number of LAX passengers to 100 million per year and triple air cargo operations.

But whatever plans the Department of Airports ultimately make for air service at Palmdale Regional Airport, landings and takeoffs for international flights by foreign flag airlines won't likely be among them.

Catlin said his review of the use agreement between the Air Force and the city of L.A. also turned up a provision limiting operations to U.S. domestic air carriers.

But Catlin said the restriction, based on security considerations, would not preclude overseas flights to and from Plant 42 by U.S.-owned and operated airlines.

Air-cargo operations, Catlin said, are neither included or excluded in the joint-use agreement between the Air Force and the Department of Airports, which operates the Palmdale Regional Air Terminal.

The joint-use agreement was adopted in March 1989, Catlin said, and since modified by a memorandum of understanding that permits the Department of Airports to collect commercial landing fees for the Air Force at Plant 42, an arrangement Catlin said was working well.