Orange County Commentary : Letters : How to Handle County’s Growing Air Traffic Demands

I have noted with interest the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ decision to support the use of Ontario International Airport to relieve congestion at John Wayne Airport.

It is clear that the northeast portion of Orange County falls within the Ontario market area. However, it is equally clear that the large remaining portion of Orange County certainly would find Ontario far less convenient than John Wayne. While I recognize that the supervisors have had difficulty dealing with the use of John Wayne Airport, it is also just as true that the various government officials have had an equally difficult time working out programs to maintain the future viability of Ontario.

There is a difference in the two approaches. The joint approach is directed toward future increases at Ontario Airport, while most programs proposed for John Wayne either discouraged additional use or provided for limited additional use.

What has not been taken into consideration by the supervisors is that at present, during busy or peak periods, Ontario already has more passengers than it can handle in the terminals and on the access roads. In fact, Ontario handled 3.1 million passengers in 1984.

To suggest that additional people be exported from distant areas to Ontario and be added to current peak congestion is incompatible with the operating circumstances.

The real solution to airport problems in Southern California does not lie in loading up Ontario and Los Angeles International airports (LAX now handles some 8-million Orange County residents) and then wonder where the excess capacity will come from later. Rather it rests in implementing the Southern California Assn. of Governments’ regional plan, which calls for additional capacity, specifically in the Orange County area.

As a matter of fact, based on runway capacity, John Wayne Airport could handle the same 12-million annual passengers as Ontario.

CLIFTON A. MOORE

General Manager

Los Angeles Department of Airports

On Wednesday, the county Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the proposed master plan for expansion of John Wayne Airport.

If it approves the plan as proposed, it will have set in motion irreversible actions that will totally destroy one of the finest residential communities in Southern California in exchange for a totally inadequate air transportation system at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Over the past 20 years, county boards have been studying, analyzing and discussing this issue. Each and every study concluded that John Wayne can never meet the projected requirements for commercial air transportation of this area and recommended that an additional site be located and developed as quickly as possible.

In each case the supervisors acknowledged the conclusion and ignored the recommendation!

I believe there is a solution, even at this late date, that is politically acceptable, economical and technically feasible that will, for the foreseeable future, resolve this problem.

I refer to Camp Pendleton, a site that was initially recommended in 1968 by Pereira & Associates under contract by the supervisors.

Their recommendation was never implemented “because of the difficulties inherent in multijurisdictional plans and the acquisition of military land for civilian use.”

Camp Pendleton has the potential of meeting the total additional air transportation requirements for the foreseeable future, not only for Orange County but also for the adjacent communities, even to the eventual possibility of becoming an international airport.

LEONARD R. HALL

Newport Beach

Discussions of the expansion of John Wayne Airport have relatively ignored two issues of utmost importance: safety and security.

If occasional engine parts have dropped and near misses have occurred at 41 flights, how much more danger is there at 55, 73, 189, or 219 flights?

Will there be another disaster, as with San Luis Obispo or San Diego?

A new facility will require new measures for passenger and aircraft safety. John Wayne Airport is an ideal location because of its proximity to Mexico and Central America for bomb threats, hijackings, and ransom demands.

John Wayne will no longer be a general airport but an international one and as such must meet the requirements for public protection.

Expansion of a structure, in this case, does not simply mean larger. It would produce many complex problems that need complete investigation.

Is the county prepared to accept the liability and vulnerability that expansion of the airport implies? If so, these problems must be firmly dealt with before commitment is made.

RUTH HYSON

Corona del Mar

We sincerely hope the Board of Supervisors will not approve an airport master plan that would depend on the John Wayne Airport to provide the total future air transportation requirements for Orange County. This would be tantamount to putting all of the air transportation eggs in one basket.

To make Newport Beach the “sacrificial lamb” for the convenience of the rest of the county is gross insensitivity and unjustifiable.

For too long the county has followed the same “easy-out policy” of merely adding a number of additional flights from time to time. We think now is the time to display proper foresight and urge the supervisors to approve a plan that would provide a supplemental airport to take some of the increasing air transportation load off the problem-laden John Wayne Airport.

As a mitigation measure, a cap of 55 flights should be placed on the present airport, pending development of a supplemental commercial airport in Orange County.

MR. AND MRS. E. P. BENSON

Newport Beach