OK Expected on Plan for 18 Flights

American Airlines would retain its dominance at John Wayne Airport and bargain-based Midway Airlines would become the newest carrier with two flights a day under a complex plan to allocate 18 new daily flights that is expected to receive final approval by the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The additions are part of an airport expansion plan that will permit as many as 33% more flights by noisier aircraft. The plan, which would take effect when the airport’s new $50-million passenger terminal opens in April, also would abolish limits on the number of hourly flights during peak travel times.

Under the plan given preliminary approval Wednesday night by the Orange County Airport Commission, American Airlines would be allowed to increase the number of its noise-regulated flights from 19 to 21. The 10% boost would keep American far ahead of the pack. USAir, with two new flights, would remain second with 11 daily flights under the new plan.

Alaska, American West, Continental, Delta, Northwest, TWA, United and USAir also would get from one to three additional flights in the noisier categories, according to the proposed plan.

The noisier jets, designated in the “A” and “AA” categories, are generally more profitable because they can go farther without refueling and hold more passengers. The number of those flights is increasing from 55 to 73 when the new terminal opens, under the settlement terms of a lawsuit that had challenged airport expansion plans several years ago.

The actual increase in flights may vary because the plan encourages airlines to give up some of their flights in noisier jets by offering additional increases to airlines that use quieter aircraft.

The plan drew generally favorable comments from some of the airport’s historic adversaries. A spokesman for a community group that had sued the county over airport noise in 1985 offered only two reservations to the proposal.

The proposed increase to as many as 22 flights between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m would be an “intrusive” burden on nearby residents, many of whom are still asleep at that hour, said Barbara Lichman, executive director of the Airport Working Group.

The major concern raised by Lichman and others, however, focused on an issue left unresolved in the commission report: whether cargo carrier companies will remain banned from the airport.

Both Federal Express and UPS have threatened to sue the county if they are not granted entry to the airport when it expands in the spring, staff counsel Michael S. Gatzke told commissioners Wednesday night. He said the staff is working on several possible compromises that could avoid another lengthy court battle.

But representatives from environmental groups, the city of Newport Beach and the community said they would be wary of any such compromise. And assurances from company representatives that their firms have invested billions of dollars in state-of-the-art quiet aircraft did little to allay their concerns.

“The eventual result of allowing them in is going to be their normal form of operation, which is night service with noisy planes,” Lichman said.

At the hearing, a UPS company representative made no mention of a lawsuit and assured the commission that his company wanted to be a good airport neighbor to the community.

But, UPS Spokesman Kenneth Churchill added, “we also feel that we have to protect the business interests of Orange County and particularly the 13,000 businesses that would ship with us on any flight.”