Economic Dogfight : Airlines File Suit to Expand Flights at Long Beach Airport
Martin Chandler leaned back against a beige wall on an observation deck and watched the sun melt into the horizon. He was waiting to catch a flight.
At most other urban airports, the Long Beach real estate broker would have to fight traffic and long lines at ticket counters. He would be sequestered in some stuffy waiting room and then disappear into one of the jetways that extend like so many octopus tentacles from satellite terminals.
Not at Long Beach Airport. During one afternoon at the peak of the holiday travel season, the airport traffic loop was wide open with only a small knot of cars in front of the terminal. There is never a problem finding the right boarding gate. There are only six, compared to 130 at Los Angeles International.
“It’s a lot more small-town,” Chandler said. “You can arrive late and get out quickly.”
Tucked north of Signal Hill just a few miles from the Orange County line, Long Beach Airport draws raves from travelers about its convenience and easy access. Yet the casual atmosphere belies a battle being played out behind the scenes: airlines eager to fly in more planes versus city officials trying to keep their airport from becoming a mini-LAX.
“People come here because of the ocean, not the airport,” said Mayor Ernie Kell, who is a private pilot.
Outcry Over Noise
City officials say they are trying to heed a public outcry concerning aircraft noise. The airport, which was designed to accommodate 14 flights a day, now handles up to 51 daily airline and commuter flights. But the city has balked at expanding parking, adding baggage handling equipment and making other major improvements while a legal dispute continues over the number of flights.
A U.S. District Court judge who is hearing a suit the airlines filed against the city agreed with the airlines’ contention that the city’s anti-airport noise law should be thrown out as an unfair restriction on interstate commerce.
One airline attorney claims the city would reap $100 million in increased tourism and business activity if it encouraged more flights.
The city’s attempt to impose limits on flights calls into question whether Long Beach is carrying its fair share of flights, compared to Los Angeles International, John Wayne in Orange County, Burbank and Ontario.
A planner for the Southern California Assn. of Governments thinks the airport could accommodate three times as many passengers as it now does. Burbank and John Wayne airports both handle more than twice the number of daily airline flights offered by Long Beach. Yet Long Beach has a larger land area than the other two airports combined.
Judge Laughlin E. Waters, who recently ruled on the airlines’ lawsuit, has temporarily set the maximum number of daily flights at 26 for commercial airlines and 25 for commuter lines. The mix of flights is expected to change depending on the outcome of the suit.
Residents remain adamantly opposed to any increase in the number of flights.
“If the airlines had their way, it would go from 26 flights a day to 100 a day. They want to take the lid off it,” said Thomas J. Housel, a member of Houses Under Stress and Hazard, or HUSH, an anti-airport-noise group in Long Beach.
Housel said he has been encouraged by the city’s opposition to more flights. “This city has put up more of a roadblock than any other (place), including Orange County and Burbank,” he said.
Long Beach is a busy airport but not because of commercial airline traffic. It logged more landings and takeoffs than either Burbank or Ontario in 1987, the latest figures available. Ninety-five percent of those takeoffs and landings are attributed to private aircraft-- about 800 private aircraft are based there.
Tim Merwin, who studies airports for the association of governments, said he believes that Long Beach Airport could expand its commercial airline service while minimizing the effect of aircraft noise. He estimated that the airport, with its long runways, expansive acreage and air traffic control facilities, could handle about 4 million passengers a year. More than 1.2 million passengers used the airport in 1987, compared to 3.2 million at Burbank, 4.5 million at John Wayne and 44.9 million at LAX.
So few airliners currently land at Long Beach that the airport almost seems a throwback to the day that its Art Deco terminal building opened in 1941. The terminal is so compact that a single baggage carrousel serves all airlines combined. There is a restaurant/cocktail lounge upstairs, a stand-up bar in the lobby and a single gift shop.
The small scale has made the airport popular with travel agents.
“We recommend it whenever we can because of the ease of access,” said Guyette Honeyman, president of Uniglobe Travel, a Long Beach travel agency. “I can get there, park and walk very leisurely.”
The convenience comes at a price. Honeyman said airline fares out of Long Beach generally run $10 to $20 more than at LAX, depending on the airline and destination.
The airport started as a home for barnstormers in 1923. It grew in the 1940s and 1950s in tandem with Douglas Aircraft Co., which built military transports and later its famed line of commercial airliners at its adjoining plant.
Busy Production Schedule
The airport remains important to Douglas’ successor, the McDonnell Douglas Corp., which has a heavy backlog of orders to build MD-80 and MD-11 jetliners, and Air Force C-17 transports in Long Beach. Their finished planes are tested at and leave from the airport.
The main runway was extended twice over the years to accommodate larger and more modern jetliners. The original 150 acres blossomed to a total land area of 1,166 acres.
Until 1981, Long Beach was served entirely by Pacific Southwest Airlines. Interstate service connecting Long Beach to the East began in 1981, when Jet America started flying to Chicago. The Long Beach-based airline was merged into Alaska Airlines in 1987.
Today, the airport is served by American, America West, Delta, Alaska, USAir, United and TWA. They offer service around the state, the West and major regional hubs such as Chicago and Dallas/Ft. Worth where air travelers can connect to flights to just about anywhere else.
How convenient is Long Beach Airport?
“It really depends on where people live and what kind of flights they want,” said Long Beach Airport Manager Chris Kunze. “Obviously, we don’t have the choices of flights as LAX, for example, but it is convenient for people who live (near) the airport.”
Trying to jam 51 commercial and commuter flights a day into facilities designed for 14 a day has created its share of problems, Kunze said. There is minor traffic congestion sometimes, and lines form around the limited baggage counter during weekday rush hours, but most travelers say they could consider these insignificant compared to larger airports.
Parking Arrangements
When the 1,050 long-term and 502 short-term parking spaces are filled during holiday periods, airport officials try to work out deals to use lots at nearby businesses.
John J. Lyons, an attorney for America West Airlines, complained that the city has balked at making needed improvements at the airport. Parking, he said, could be expanded into an area presently used by city buses. And the city has made plans for--but not followed through on--thousands of dollars in improvements to the lobby and baggage handling equipment, he said.
Kunze said airport improvements would be impractical until a final decision emerges from U.S. District Court setting the number of flights allowed at the airport. The two sides are due back in court next month.
In the meantime, the city is considering rate hikes to pay for improvements at the airport.
Under the proposal due to be taken up Tuesday by the City Council, long-term daily parking rates would rise from $6 to $9 and monthly parking permits would double to $30. Airlines and private pilots would be charged higher landing and fuel fees in addition to other rate hikes.
Kunze said the increases are needed to offset operating income losses of more than $2.2 million in the last three fiscal years. While losing money on the operations side, land sales and other non-operating revenue have given the airport a net income of about $500,000 during the same period.
COMPARISON OF MAJOR AIRPORTS
Number of Aircraft Passengers Landings, Airport (millions)* Takeoffs* Acres Long Beach (LGB) 1.21 434,995 1,166 L.A. International (LAX) 44.90 667,200 3,500 John Wayne (SNA) 4.50 512,959 508 Burbank (BUR) 3.20 240,668 438 Ontario (OIA) 4.60 138,457 1,450
* 1987 (most recent data available)
Source: Airport officials
