County to hire consultant for airport

One focus of the study will be how to best promote Palmdale Regional Airport to airlines, which haven't served the community since 1998.

Los Angeles World Airports, a branch of L.A. City Hall, owns and operates Los Angeles and Ontario International Airports, as well as the Van Nuys Airport and Palmdale Regional Airport.

LAX and Ontario are among Southern California's busiest passenger and cargo hubs; Van Nuys is the nation's busiest general aviation airport; and Palmdale Regional hasn't been used at all since commuter carrier United Express abandoned the terminal in April 1998.

LAWA penned an agreement with the city of Palmdale last year to promote Palmdale Regional Airport to airlines. So far, efforts have focused on making the neglected terminal and its surroundings look presentable.

Crews are already sprucing up the property, which sits on leased federal land near the runways of Air Force Plant 42.

But Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich isn't convinced LAWA will promote Palmdale as an alternative to LAX, the city's busiest airport and a source of great revenue.

"LAWA is still planning to increase passenger service at LAX," said Lori Howard, an Antonovich deputy familiar with airport issues. "They're not moving at all to make Palmdale a legitimate alternative."

LAWA has a master plan for LAX in the works that calls for expanding that airport to accommodate up to 98 million annual passengers by the year 2015.

Concerned that other regional communities will be aced out of airport growth by the LAX plan, the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino, as well as 65 cities, took formal positions on the matter.

All said other regional airports should be fully used instead of dramatically increasing capacity only at LAX.

Howard said Antonovich asked for up to $100,000 for a consultant because he wants one who will have only the county's interest in mind when it looks at the region's airports and future needs.

"Air Force Plant 42 is not only viable, but is thriving," Antonovich said in a prepared statement.

He cited LAWA's recent success in bringing SR Technics North America to the airfield. A division of SAirGroup - formerly SwissAir - SRTechnics specializes in heavy maintenance, upgrades and conversions of wide-body jet aircraft.

When it announced the Palmdale operation last December, SRTechnics officials said they would hire 1,000 workers by June and up to 5,000 in the next four years.

"LAWA needs to expand services at other airports, not at LAX," Howard said. "Mike thought somebody in all of these consultants ought to focus on the interest of the county as a whole. Somebody needs to look at all of the airports to determine where the growth should go."