John Wayne Airport Diving Into Space Crunch : Use by Airlines, Corporations and Private Fliers Is Soaring Past Its Capacity

Eddie Martin remembers when he could shut off his airplane’s engine and land just about anywhere in Orange County that he wanted to.

But that was in the 1920s--when aviation, Martin and Orange County were young.

Today, the county has 2.2 million residents and an airport jammed with enough private, corporate and commercial aircraft to make it the fifth-busiest in the nation.

Airplane owners now pay a premium price for the convenience of storing planes in Orange County.

And that price is increasing because the airport is fast running out of room to meet the sometimes-conflicting needs of the traveling public, the private fliers and the growing number of corporations that keep their aircraft in Orange County.

Supply of Space Limited

The supply of space at John Wayne Airport “won’t meet the demand that comes with every new skyscraper that goes up and brings in another corporation that has to have its own plane,” said Tommy Walker, general manager of Million Air Orange County, one of six fixed-base operators at the airport.

More than 1,000 private planes are permanently based at John Wayne, about half of them used at least some of the time by business fliers. A decade ago, airport officials said, there was just one corporate jet based in Orange County. Today there are 30.

To serve the public, the county-owned airport, founded by Martin when he opened his Martin Aviation flight school in 1921 and scratched out a landing strip in the field next door--is about to develop the last of its property for a 330,000-square-foot terminal and 8,400-space parking structure.

Construction is to begin early next year, with the terminal scheduled to open in April, 1990. The $297-million expansion will include runway improvements and new roadways leading directly into the airport from the Corona del Mar Freeway.

To meet the demands of the private aviation faction, the airport’s fixed-base operators--who provide public services such as aircraft leasing and rentals and flight training, or commercial services, such as refueling, cleaning, maintaining and storing the private planes based at the airport--are involved in a final expansion binge of their own.

Plans New Facility

Martin Aviation Inc., the company Martin started in 1921, is about to begin a $3.2-million facility on five acres on the west side of the airport, doubling its hangar space, primarily to handle the airport’s growing corps of corporate aircraft.

Of the other fixed-base operators, Tallmantz Aviation built a $2-million hangar and corporate terminal project in 1985. And Walker said Million Air is considering a new hangar on its land--a project that wound involve tearing down or adding onto the existing structures or eliminating less-expensive outdoor tie-down spaces for private aircraft.

But such expansion will only meet current need, said Robert Volk, current owner of Martin Aviation. “People are already seeking plane storage spaces that we won’t be able to satisfy.”

Demand for space at the airport for private and corporate planes continues to grow because only commercial airlines with multiengine passenger jets are affected by the 1985 airport noise abatement measure that limits commercial jet departures to an average of 55 per day, increasing to 73 in 1990.

Last year, 4 million commercial passengers flew in and out of the airport, and airport officials expect 8.4-million passengers in 1990 and say they could serve 11 million if the noise measures allowed additional planes to fly.

By then, airport officials and fixed-base operators said, there won’t be room for any more private planes, either.

“The only thing that will happen is prices will go up,” Volk said of commercial and corporate air travel at the airport.

Storage Fees Higher

Already, Volk said, private pilots pay about 50% more to store their airplanes at John Wayne Airport than at Riverside Municipal Airport.

With no space for expansion in Orange County, some fixed-base operators are opening facilities elsewhere--Volk has established Martin Aviation branches at Long Beach and Burbank airports--or are exploiting lines of business that are profitable and least affected by the lack of space.

For Volk, that means expanding his executive charter business because he can’t expand the hangar and tie-down space Martin Aviation provides for the private pilots that have used the facilities that Eddie Martin began nearly 70 years ago.

Martin, 86, sold the company to his younger brother in 1938. Ownership of Martin Aviation has been out of the family since 1963. Martin remains a frequent airport visitor; he takes new employees of Martin Aviation to lunch each month.

He said the airport is still home, but it’s too crowded for him to want to keep a plane there--a far cry from the days he drove a car up and down Santa Ana’s Main Street carrying signs urging the public to learn to fly.

And, he said, he would be frustrated doing business today: “It’s obvious we need a new airport. But today, they can’t just open a new airport like I did. The land’s all developed, and too many people would have to be involved.”