Everyone wants air service, it seems

Out of a fierce, noisy political battle over a proposed expansion of Los Angeles International Airport, at least one good note has resounded:

Everyone from the L.A. City Council to Mayor Richard Riordan to Los Angeles World Airports to L.A. County Fifth District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich wants air service established at Palmdale Airport.

And to show their support, those L.A. entities have proposed to hire a consultant to find the best way to meet that goal.

On Friday, a spokesman for L.A. World Airports' board said its members will consider hiring a consultant during their Dec. 5 meeting to market Palmdale Airport to passenger airlines.

Earlier this month, L.A. City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter successfully passed a proposal to hire a consultant to work outside airline channels to market the airport and eventually establish international operations in Palmdale.

That proposal was originally introduced by Riordan, but was expanded upon by Galanter to include hiring a consultant and creating an international airport in Palmdale.

But Antonovich is way ahead of the field.

He has already hired a consultant, who has completed a draft of a report on airport development. The final version is due out early next month.

According to a source close to Antonovich who's seen the draft, the document bodes well for anyone arguing to establish operations at Palmdale Airport.

The report concludes that most flights from Burbank Airport are local, the source said.

Many north L.A. County residents wishing to avoid the congestion of LAX book flights at Burbank.

That airport doesn't serve many hubs in the southwest, according to the report.

The report finds "there's this huge void for air service to the major hub cities," the source said. "We're going to have a mountain of evidence showing that passenger service should be restarted in Palmdale."

The Palmdale Airport saw its last commercial operations end when United Express, the only airline flying out of the hub, departed in April 1998.

Perhaps no one has been a more fierce proponent of re-establishing operations at Palmdale than Galanter.

Galanter, who's persistently served as a foil to Riordan on the Los Angeles City Council, has staunchly opposed plans by Riordan and L.A. World Airports to expand LAX to deal with worsening congestion.

Expansion of LAX, Galanter argues, doesn't serve north L.A. County residents who have to travel crowded freeways to access air service at either LAX or Burbank.

In cooperation with Riordan, L.A. World Airports has drafted a master plan to expand LAX as well as increase commuter service to outlying airports, including Palmdale's.

Galanter also opposes expansion of the metropolitan airport because of concerns in surrounding communities including traffic congestion and air- and noise-pollution concerns.

Galanter maintains that calls by Riordan and L.A. World Airports to bring passenger service to Palmdale Airport are merely a smokescreen to pacify those interested in a regional approach to providing air service.

"They keep assuring us that they are working on it and they are really anxious to see those airports take off," Galanter said. "Clearly, their entire effort is focused on putting everything on LAX."

L.A. World Airports spokesman Tom Winfrey denied Galanter's allegation.

"We are committed to developing Palmdale Airport," he said. "We're ready to go to our board of airport commissioners with a request for proposal that would be for air service marketing and development in Palmdale."

The proposal will seek bids from airline consultants to look for ways to bring passenger service to Palmdale, which is essentially the same proposal Galanter has put forth, Winfrey said.

"We think this request for proposal that the board of airport commissioners will consider next month will satisfy her proposal," Winfrey said.

According to Niki Tennant, a spokeswoman for Galanter, both proposals will work together. The consultant hired by the city would look for creative ways to market the airport, and not just provide marketing services to get airlines to look at Palmdale as the L.A. World Airports proposal would do, she said.

"As far as we're concerned, the two can complement each other," Tennant said.

Palmdale city officials, once allied with Galanter against LAX expansion for obvious reasons, have withdrawn from the battle, instead opting for the sidelines, citing a need to cooperate with L.A. World Airports.

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford has said building an international airport on 17,470 acres of vacant land owned by Los Angeles World Airports east of Air Force Plant 42 "would jeopardize the presence of the Air Force at Plant 42 and the contractors now situated at Plant 42, so we're talking about the loss of jobs and the loss of the Air Force."

But Palmdale does support an expansion of operations at Plant 42, which is allowed under a joint-use agreement between Los Angeles World Airports and the Air Force, he said.

Expanding those operations up to the maximum 400 flights a day would allow the city to relieve some of the burden from LAX and add local service while retaining the Air Force and major aircraft companies such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Ledford said.

If indeed Palmdale ever sees that many flights per day, it wouldn't create a problem for operations at Plant 42, Installation Commander Lt. Col. Celeo Wright said.

Wright said he couldn't immediately comment on whether expanding past 400 flights per day would impact Air Force operations in the area.

LAX currently sees 2,000 flights per day, compared to Ontario Airport, which reports 270 daily flights, with no upper limitations.

Burbank Airport reports an average of 450 flights daily.

But it's not Galanter's plan to simply abandon the operational capability at Plant 42, Tennant said.

"We do not want to build an airport on our 17,000 acres instead of using Plant 42," she said. "For some reason, Ledford wants to confuse the issue. Our goal is to get service in to Plant 42 ... get that up to its allowable maximum, and then develop a master plan for a future airport on the city of L.A.'s property."

Another reason Palmdale officials have withdrawn from the fray could be a matter of finance.

In April 1999, Los Angeles World Airports' board of commissioners granted permission to seek bids for the construction of a $1.5 million cargo ramp. That ramp was to be large enough to accommodate the simultaneous loading and unloading of two cargo planes at Palmdale Regional Airport.

"I think the supervisor's take is whatever works," said Laurie Howard, a deputy for Antonovich who handles airport issues. "We've been trying to get Palmdale reestablished for years ever since it closed."

She added, "If this issue ever commanded the full attention of LAWA, we'd have air service" in Palmdale.

As for the number of consultants working on the issue, Howard remarked, "The more the merrier. Maybe if you throw enough things up, one of them will stick."