Attack plan set to land airport

Expansion at Palmdale will occur only if officials from the city of Los Angeles can be forced to recognize the folly of trying to keep all future air service centralized at Los Angeles International Airport, Anderson told members of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce.

Named by Los Angeles County 5th District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich to challenge Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's plans for centralization at LAX, Anderson said the Valley's attack strategies include:

Compiling information showing how many Antelope Valley residents, workers and business owners use airline services, particularly after the recent influx of Boeing and Lockheed Martin aircraft company employees.

Convincing the Sunjet International airline company to offer service from Palmdale as well as from Long Beach, from where it now offers several flights a week to Newark, N.J., at a cost of $100 per passenger.

Placing an Antelope Valley representative on the Los Angeles Airports Commission to convince the panel to maximize service at LAX but use Palmdale Regional and Ontario International airports for excess demand.

Acquiring a resolution by the county Board of Supervisors stating its support for the expansion of Palmdale Regional and Ontario International airports.

Obtaining a November referendum ballot measure asking Los Angeles County voters whether they prefer expanding LAX or expanding Palmdale and Ontario's airports to meet the needs of future air service.

If the proposed referendum makes it to the ballot, "I'm confident that there will be an overwhelming and resounding negative response to having all the development down at LAX," Anderson said.

The skies over that airport "are crowded, crowded, crowded," he said, as are the freeways leading to it. "It's gridlock almost 24 hours a day.

"With the skies so crowded, what in the world do we need for a wake-up call? A major catastrophe out there?" he asked.

Nevertheless, plans are being laid to construct a new 6-millionsquare-foot passenger terminal that will more than double LAX's current number of 2,100 flights a day.

The new terminal would be served by new runways and an expressway leading to and from the San Diego Freeway. Total cost has been estimated at $10 billion.

"Try to imagine the mess of handling the existing traffic while renovation and new construction . . . are being done," Anderson said. "I can envision literally hours of delay in even getting in or out of the LAX complex. It's bad enough now."

The good news is that two small battles in the airport expansion war have been won, he said.

One victory came when Los Angeles World Airports, the city's airport department, "signed off on the dedication of the land (needed) for the Avenue P-8 access to the (Palmdale) airport," he said, referring to a long-planned AV Freeway extension intended to deliver traffic to the airfield's front gate.

The second victory came when the department initiated the design phase of a cargo pad, which will be "the first step necessary to receive major cargo shipments at Palmdale Regional Airport."

The victories were achieved despite two $5-million public-relations campaigns by Riordan that failed to convince Los Angeles residents that LAX should be the sole focus of the city's airport expansion efforts - despite revenue projections for LAX of between $50 to $80 billion.

"It's incredible that they can predict this will be a profitable thing," Anderson said. "I don't know of one single municipal airport that is profitable. . . . So they're kind of blowing smoke, I believe, in all the statements they're making to the public."

Locally, the problem is that none of the major airlines will open ticket counters at Palmdale Regional Airport until they know the move will bring them profits, he said.

At present, those airlines can make more money forcing air travelers and cargo shippers from Lancaster, Palmdale and Santa Clarita to use the existing services at LAX.

"For the first time, we really have wide public support for the development of Palmdale (Regional) Airport," he said, citing backing from Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter and Los Angeles Congresswoman Maxine Waters in addition to that of Supervisor Antonovich, Santa Clarita Congressman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, Palmdale state Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight and Lancaster Assemblyman George Runner.

With their help, "we can chart a course that will result in the utilization of the assets that are available" at Palmdale Regional Airport, Anderson said.

The demand for Valley air service already has been substantiated, chamber member Steve Abrams told Anderson from the floor.

Abrams, marketing director for AV Aviation, a commuter-flight company based at the county's Gen. William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster, said, "about 700 people a week go from the Antelope Valley to (airports in) Burbank, Ontario and Phoenix."

That information is based on research by AV Aviation in planning to establish regular small-plane service to Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Sacramento, he said.

The same research showed his company could bring as many as 1,500 people a day through Fox Field's terminal from Central and Southern California for connections to LAX and airports in Phoenix and Las Vegas, Abrams said.

"We know the market is out there; we just need to get them here and get them out" to their destinations, he said. But concentrating only on Palmdale Regional Airport "is barking up the wrong tree."

Instead, Valley officials should improve both Palmdale and Fox Fields, Abrams said. "They could run cargo out of Fox and use Palmdale for passenger service. That would keep the traffic down and expand them both."

The fact is, Fox Field has excellent expansion capabilities, and its growth would not necessitate a fight with Los Angeles World Airports and Mayor Riordan, he said.

Regardless of that fight, "If L.A. doesn't make (the Antelope Valley) a hub, I'm going to make it a hub," Abrams said.

A local effort would be the best way to obtain flight service for the Antelope Valley in the near future, said Ed Merlis, senior vice president of legislative and international affairs for the Washington, D.C.-based Air Transport Association.

"The fundamental issue is that (major) airlines do not run split operations," said Merlis, explaining they would not bring passengers in or out of LAX and then transfer them to Palmdale to continue their flights.

"The airlines already have wellsituated customer bases at LAX and they would not want to give up the certainty of that for the uncertainty of Palmdale," he said. "There already have been those who have tried to provide service out of Palmdale, and it doesn't have the operational base to sustain it.

"If there was a business opportunity there . . . people would challenge each other" to provide flight service, Merlis said. "But if they can't recover their costs, they'll put their airplanes in another market where they can recover the cost or make a profit."

The logical alternative seems to be expanding LAX, he said.