VIPs Put on Airs in First Flight From Terminal : Aviation: Champagne toasts and goodwill mark an aerial tour of Southern California by industry officials. Proceeds will be used for airport artwork.

The champagne was bubbling and spirits were soaring among the 140 VIPs who had paid $250 each to be aboard a Boeing 757 jetliner, dubbed Flight 1990, the maiden voyage from the new Thomas F. Riley Terminal at John Wayne Airport.

As we boarded at Gate 8 inside the arched, $63-million terminal, a vintage DC-2 was moved next to the big jetliner, provoking “oohs” and “ahs” about how it looked tiny as an ant.

Once aloft, we swooped over Santa Catalina Island. The silver plane, donated by American Airlines for this occasion, dipped down over Avalon, where a cruise ship lay anchored in the harbor. Streaking toward San Diego’s Point Loma, we saw Mt. Palomar and its white-domed observatory and glimpsed San Clemente Island through near-perfect skies.

Passenger Ken Gudger of Southern California Edison Co. said he came because the new airport terminal “brings growth and economic development to Orange County, and that’s good for everybody. . . . Anything that’s this important to Orange County is important to us.”

“This is probably the most exciting day in Orange County transportation,” said Dana W. Reed, chairman of the county’s Transportation Commission. “We finally have an airport.”

Reed’s wife, Christine, executive director of the Building Industry Assn.’s Orange County chapter and a frequent flier, added that she was there because it was a flight “where I don’t have to have any bags.”

“I came because of the unlimited peanuts,” joked Philip Bettencourt, a development consultant. Other passengers were asking, “Do we get frequent flier mileage?”

There was little talk about the months of delay and cost overruns that plagued the terminal project. Attorney Ernest Brown, who represents the county in airport construction litigation, remarked how amazing it was that the 3 1/2-year project produced only one money claim against the county. Unfortunately, the claim, in the form of a lawsuit, is from the prime contractor.

Up front on the flight deck, Airport Manager George Rebella, a white-knuckle flier, and Airport Commission Chairman Gary Proctor were in cockpit jump seats right behind flight captains Ralph Sirek and John Piplow. In fact, passengers took turns in the cockpit, marveling over the view out the front window and the fluorescent pink and blue dials on the dashboard.

“Sit here,” Rebella said, laughing. “This is the ejection seat.”

Eugene Moriarty, president of the Orange County Aviation Council, sponsors of this flight, announced over the airplane’s intercom that he was presenting a check for $20,000 to Board of Supervisors Chairman Don R. Roth, seated with other county supervisors up in the first-class section. The check represents the proceeds from the ticket sales for the flight; they will aid the airport arts program.

We passed over the Salton Sea, then near the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. An airline official narrated our tour, calling out the Banning Pass, and Big Bear beyond.

As we prepared to land, Moriarty announced, “The good news is that your baggage didn’t go to Pittsburgh.”

After a textbook landing, long-stemmed roses were handed to each woman stepping off the plane. A mob of bystanders surrounded the gate, attracted by the sight of the first jetliner to actually dock at the new terminal.

Everyone then was herded to the baggage claim area, where passengers exchanged their phony baggage claim tickets for a canvas tote bag full of promotional goodies ranging from a pocket alarm to a coffee mug, all emblazoned with company logos from various airlines and airport services.

“My first reaction is to wonder how the heck we got along for so long with the old terminal,” said State Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim).

Stacey Rebella, daughter of the airport manager, added, “It’s just interesting to be on the first flight out.”

Bettencourt, however, never saw a single peanut.