Bomel Construction this month began constructing the...

Bomel Construction this month began constructing the first building of the new John Wayne Airport terminal. The company is building the southwest parking structure as part of the $296.6-million airport improvement project. The four-level parking structure, designed to accommodate 1,476 cars, is scheduled to open next Feburary to serve passengers using the old terminal. The new terminal is scheduled to be completed by April, 1990. Also this month, John Wayne Airport announced that airline passenger traffic hit 399,756 in May, a scant 0.9% decline from the same period a year earlier. At the same time, total aircraft operations--including takeoffs and landings--increased 3.3% to 46,833, compared to the same month in 1987, airport officials said. General aviation activity, which accounted for 85% of total aircraft operations during May, showed an upswing of 3.3% when compared to the prior year. Air carrier flight operations dropped 2.3%, while commuter airline, including air taxi, operations also declined 37.9% from the year-ago period.