TRANSPORTATION : American Airlines Keeps Its Top Spot at John Wayne Airport
The numbers are out, and American Airlines remains the major carrier at John Wayne Airport under the new 15-year flight allocation plan.
American, which became the airport’s big boy when it acquired home-grown AirCal and its landing slots in 1987, winds up with 21 of the 73 daily flights allocated so far, or 28.8% of the total. That’s up from 19 flights under the old plan. A flight is one takeoff and one landing.
County officials all along had made noises supporting the theory that carriers wouldn’t lose any flights in the new allocation, which takes effect when the new airport terminal opens sometime next year.
USAir remains in second place, with 10 flights. Next, in a four-way tie with seven flights apiece, are America West, Continental, Delta and Northwest. United gets six a day, Alaska and TWA each get three and newcomer Midway--the discount ticket to Chicago--has two.
Two other carriers, Braniff and Southwest Airlines, decline to accept one flight under the plan. Braniff recently filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code, and Southwest said it could not profitably operate on just one flight.
