Protests Stall Proposal to Lease County Airports : Aviation: Supervisors postpone action after pilots and union leaders complain. Critics say rates would increase at the five facilities.

A plan to lease Los Angeles County’s five general aviation airports to a private company hit some turbulence Tuesday when pilots, union representatives and airport vendors protested the proposal.

The Board of Supervisors generally supported the plan, but postponed action for two weeks to give opponents time to review the 20-year contract with Comarco Inc., an Anaheim-based defense contractor.

Supervisor Pete Schabarum scolded the pilots for their objections, saying they would receive improved service and maintenance at the frequently run-down airports.

“This is an entirely wholesome undertaking,” he said.

Speaking before the board and in interviews afterward, detractors said they fear their rates would increase and services would decline as the company looks for ways to pay the county the minimum $2.8 million a year guaranteed in the contract. The county Department of Public Works estimates it makes about $2.2 million annually from the airports.

“They’ll have to get their profits out of the users, and the users aren’t that wealthy,” said Gus Whisnand, who has flown out of Gen. William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster for about 20 years and runs a charter company there.

“We’re just normal workaday people who have planes instead of a little boat or a fancy car.”

Whisnand and 698 other pilots signed a petition that questions the competency of Comarco. Company spokesmen and county managers acknowledged that Comarco’s airport experience is limited to running auxiliary services, such as computer systems and ground transportation for employees.

The five Los Angeles County airports, in Lancaster, Pacoima, La Verne, El Monte and Compton, have been managed by the county for more than 20 years. Last April, the supervisors instructed the Department of Public Works to look for a private manager as part of a broader move toward private operation of county services.

Thomas A. Tidemanson, public works director, called the proposal “unique.”

“We are being paid for the opportunity for the private sector to operate our airports,” he said.

Although all 55 airport employees would lose their county jobs under the plan, the contract with Comarco requires the company to offer a position, at current salary, to anyone who has worked at one of the airports for at least three months. The public works department also has pledged to try to find jobs for those who opt not to accept Comarco’s offer.

Union representatives said those provisions are inadequate to make up for the loss of union representation, benefits and future raises.

Responding to pilots’ concerns about the potential for declining services at the airports, Harry Stone, deputy public works director, said the contract calls for the county to closely monitor the company’s performance and make adjustments whenever necessary.

Most fee increases--such as hangar rentals--would have to be approved by the supervisors, Stone said. Those fees cannot rise too rapidly or pilots would take their planes to public and private fields elsewhere, he said. Fuel prices can be raised by the company without county approval, he said, but are virtually dictated by the prices charged by surrounding airports.

Louis A. Sterns Sr., a North Hollywood attorney who has used Whiteman Airport in Pacoima since 1978, said safety concerns leave pilots of small planes few choices other than the county fields, where they are unlikely to compete for air and landing space with larger jets.

“To say that it’s set by what the market will bear is a misnomer,” Sterns said. “What will the market bear when there’s a monopoly?”

PRIVATE AIRPORTS

Los Angeles County airports scheduled for privatization:

1. General William J. Fox Airfield

4555 W. Avenue G, Lancaster

2. Whiteman Airport

12653 Osborne St., Pacoima

3. El Monte Airport

4233 W. Santa Anita Ave., El Monte

4. Brackett Field

1615 McKinley Ave., La Verne

5. Compton Airport

901 W. Alondra Blvd., Compton