L.A. said coming around on Palmdale airport

"They are coming around on this," Dispenza said.

The city councilman said he believes the cities of Palmdale and Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports can work together to develop regional airport prospects in Palmdale.

Los Angeles Councilwoman Ruth Galanter has long been an advocate of developing Palmdale's regional airport capacity because of her area's opposition to further expansion of Los Angeles International Airport.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan persistently has pushed for a World Airports plan that involves aggressive expansion of LAX. Riordan's administration, is due to end this year, however, and many supporters of Palmdale airport development look for a change in the wind.

"With LAX, you're basically looking at gridlock," Dispenza said.

The Palmdale councilman said he believes Los Angeles City Council members will agree to attend a tour of the Los Angeles World Airports' 17,000 acres in the vicinity of U.S. Air Force Plant 42. The property is not on the critical defense-industrial plant, but nearby.

"Most of them have never been up here, and they don't even know what they have," Dispenza said.

The councilman didn't say which Los Angeles council members appeared to be moving toward Galanter's stand, but he said he believed most of them know that airport access is demanding a regional solution.

Also, a joint operating agreement permits as many as 50 commercial flights a day from the air terminal already established on Air Force Plant 42 property.

"That actually means 25 flights a day, because each landing and takeoff counts as a flight," Dispenza said.

Even 25 flights a day seems a good distance off, with the last commercial air service, a short hop commuter haul to LAX, ending in 1998 because of high prices and low traffic.

Dispenza, appearing at a taping for a Channel 3 public affairs show called "Final Word," said LAX commuter service failed because of noncompetitive prices, and the fact that people who would travel from Palmdale typically want hub service to other major areas such as Las Vegas, Denver and other cities in the West.

Meanwhile, hopes for an expanded role for Palmdale as a regional air traffic hub are lifted higher on the recent release of a Los Angeles County-commissioned report spearheaded by county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, whose 5th District includes the Antelope Valley.

More than 1 million passengers per year would fly out of Palmdale Airport if regular airline service were offered, the report stated. Antonovich favors aggressive efforts by Palmdale and the county to move ahead.

Palmdale officials, however, believe they are achieving a more effective relationship with Los Angeles World Airports.

Antonovich is skeptical. Nevertheless, all parties concerned are drawing encouragement from the county-commissioned report, which points out that about 600,000 people live in north Los Angeles County within Palmdale's market area.

"Other airports serving markets the same size as the Palmdale Airport market average (more than) 26 jet flights and 18 commuter flights per day," according to the study.

Another factor in the mix is legislation proposed this week by Assemblyman George Runner, R-Lancaster. If passed, the legislation would approve gas-tax incentives to airlines operating with an enterprise zone. Palmdale and Oakland are two such sites.

Additionally, a citizens group, the Palmdale Regional Airport Advisory Group voted to renew its efforts to push for an airport after a period of dormancy.

Commissioned by Los Angeles County, the study used data from the Antelope Valley 2000 Demographic and Economic Study and included interviews of 26 companies, including Fiberset Corp., BAE SYSTEMS Flight Systems, The Boeing Co., AVTEL, Rexall, SR Technics of America Ltd., Senior Systems Technology, Northrop-Grumman Corp. and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.

Long Beach-based Tri-Star Marketing Co. began work on the 80-page report last summer. Antonovich last year successfully passed a motion to commission the report.

"The market study's conclusion that the Antelope Valley can support a regional airport is welcome news for the 3 million people who would no longer be forced to drive congested highways to Los Angeles International Airport," Antonovich said after the report's release last week.

While the study was intended to market Palmdale Airport, one airline already has plans to offer service from Palmdale for a round trip next month.

Pace Airlines plans to offer Boeing 737 service from Palmdale to Laughlin, Nev., leaving March 22 and returning March 25, as part of a package deal that includes three-night accommodations. The airline is running advertisements on the deal in the Antelope Valley Press.

According to Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, the study confirms statistics pushed by the Palmdale Working Group, an organization that's examining ways to use Palmdale Airport.

"I think it kind of restates some of the obvious," Ledford said. "You (have) to show potential carriers that there is an opportunity, that there is a profitable business by locating to Palmdale. We need to prove it to a carrier to help entice them to come out to this regional airport."

Valley Press Aerospace Writer Don Jergler contributed to this report.