America West, AirCal to Add 5 Flights From Airport Today

Two carriers are adding flights today to their schedules at crowded John Wayne Airport to take advantage of what one airline executive called the “virtually unlimited demand” for air travel from Orange County.

America West Airlines is adding two daily round-trip flights to its existing Orange County-Phoenix route. And AirCal is launching the county’s first nonstop service to Chicago with three flights a day.

America West already flies four flights a day to Phoenix from Orange County, where the airport’s noise controls are among the strictest in the nation and where flight allocations are based largely on aircraft noise levels.

The Orange County market “is such that even with six round trips, you’re not even banging a dent in the overall demand,” said Mark Coleman, senior vice president of advertising and market planning for America West Airlines, based in Phoenix.

According to airport officials, America West’s departing Boeing 737-300 jets last week passed a noise-level test that would qualify the airline as a Class E carrier--the airport’s quietest class. Class E carriers must maintain noise levels below 86 decibels within a 4.5-mile radius of the airport. America West currently is a Class AA carrier, meaning that its jets produce noise levels below 89.5 decibels.

The quieter classification affords an airline a higher quarterly quota of departures from John Wayne. But the new six-flight-a-day schedule for America West still is temporary. In 90 days, airport officials will evaluate the noise levels from America West’s outgoing jets to ensure that they continue to operate within the limits. A final quarterly quota will be given the airline at that time. America West began flying into Orange County April 1, 1985. It plans to add service to Chicago July 15.