Local News in Brief : Countywide : Celebration Heralds New Airport Terminal

Public officials, airline executives and other leaders turned out Friday evening for a gala celebration to launch the new John Wayne Airport passenger terminal.

“It’s the biggest party in town,” said Sharon Esterley, spokeswoman for the county’s biggest-ever public works project.

More than 400 people nibbled cucumbers topped with cheese and smoked salmon under a huge white circus tent set up on the airport’s Tarmac.

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley and airport manager George Rebella praised the efforts to build the new terminal. Scheduled to open April 1, 1990, the $296.6-million terminal and parking facility will double available parking and increase the terminal area more than tenfold.

Construction of the facility, designed to accommodate 8.4 million passengers a year, twice the existing terminal’s capacity, is scheduled to begin next month, Esterley said.

The existing 22,000-square-foot terminal, built in 1967, opened to serve two airlines and was supposed to satisfy the county’s air travel needs far into the future. But it has been crowded for years and an embarrassment to county officials who have been under pressure from both airlines and Newport Beach residents.

The airlines have sued to expand service while the neighbors, citing concerns about noise and traffic, sued to block expansion.

Under terms of a 1985 out-of-court settlement of a noise and traffic lawsuit filed by Newport Beach against the county, the new facility can serve a maximum of 8.4 million passengers annually--far below the passenger market of 11 million predicted for the county in 1990.