LAX Expansion Task Force meets

Antonovich, Lancaster and Palmdale mayors Frank Roberts and Jim Ledford, Lancaster and Palmdale city managers Jim Gilley and Bob Toone as well as a number of other city officials made the meeting.

Pat Russell, assistant deputy for Antonovich, said the meeting was not the first for the local expansion task force, but it was the first of its kind.

"It was the first time we actually got together with a strategy," Russell said. "It was an informational type meeting to show us what level we are on."

She said it was the first time the task force came together and agreed to act first instead of waiting on developments.

"We know that we are definitely going to have to do something pro-active rather than reactive."

Russell said now that the task force is informed on what's going on, they will meet again soon to discuss plans for action.

Judith Kendall, a regional planning representative on the LAX Task Force for the County of Los Angeles spoke at the meeting. She attends most meetings pertaining to the LAX expansion and informed over 25 people in attendance about the status of the airport expansion.

"Today was a sound attempt on the part of Antonovich to get the message told and to let the task force know that we have to move forward and we have to move forward now," Kendall said after the meeting.

She said that while the Palmdale Regional Airport has a lot to offer, there are still a number of obstacles to any possible expansion.

"There are over 17,000 acres dedicated to the Palmdale Regional Airport," she said. "When you look at LAX, they are trying to shoehorn additional development in that airport with only 3,500 acres."

"When you add that to the tremendous amount of resistance from the community to the north and south, (LAX) is pretty much topped out."

However, transportation access to and from the airport as well as low airline ridership are two of the obstacles that affect the expansion coming to the Palmdale airport.

Under a joint operating agreement with the Air Force, Los Angeles World Airports is allowed to have 50 flights a day in Palmdale.

But while the city can run flights, no carriers currently serve the market.

The last carrier at the Palmdale Airport, United Express, pulled out in April because it could not keep its four daily flights to LAX even half full, thus losing money every time one of its 19-passenger turboprop planes left the ground.

Los Angeles World Airports, part of the city of Los Angeles, owns and administers Los Angeles and Ontario International Airports, as well as regional airports in Palmdale and Van Nuys.

The city of Los Angeles bought the 17,750 acres of desert east of Air Force Plant 42 in 1966 with the intention of building a second international airport to complement Los Angeles International. The airport was never built.