A Mostly Happy First Birthday : Passenger Counts Are Up at New Terminal at John Wayne Airport
The sleek Thomas F. Riley passenger terminal at John Wayne Airport celebrates its first anniversary Monday against a backdrop of soaring passenger counts, positive consumer reviews and long-simmering safety, jet-noise and construction disputes.
Last year’s Sept. 16 grand opening extravaganza carried the promise of a spacious, state-of-the-art facility with new eateries, conveniences and more flights to more places.
The new terminal--12 times bigger than its predecessor--has delivered on most scores, particularly where it comes to comfort and convenience within the terminal, but has fallen short on a few other points.
“I’m really pleased,” airport manager Jan Mittermeier said. “Originally the passengers going through the terminal were comparing it with the old one, but now they’re forgetting the old terminal and are comparing it to others throughout the United States, with some even saying that this is the nicest one. I think it shows that we were successful in designing a user-friendly terminal.”
On the up side: Demand has been so strong at John Wayne that passenger volume has jumped 24.4% from a year ago, despite the recession and the departure of two airlines from the airport, Midway and USAir. Air fare wars and new competition to some destinations--including the Bay Area and Sacramento--have driven some ticket prices down 10% to 20% from a year ago, according to Jack Keady, West Coast marketing director for American Airlines.
On the down side: Average daily air carrier departures have increased by only seven, to 94. And only one significant new destination has been added: New York. Nonstop flights on the wide-body Boeing 767 to such destinations as Hawaii are still just a travel agent’s dream, with airport officials blaming the slow economy and the airlines’ unwillingness to invest more money in the aircraft needed for such missions. Moreover, demand for the available seats is so high that tickets out of John Wayne are still priced above comparable trips from Long Beach, Los Angeles or Ontario airports.
“I’m flying out of LAX when I take longer trips eastward, like to Florida,” David Thomas, vice president of Irvine-based Strategy Research Corp., said recently as he waited to board a flight to San Francisco. “The savings on the longer trips can be as much as 15% or 20%.”
When the new terminal opened last year, officials predicted that additional flights would provoke more noise complaints. They were right. Airport neighbors filed 1,291 noise complaints during the first half of 1991, up 15.7% over the 1,116 complaints filed during the first six months of 1990, before the new terminal opened.
A bid by the Federal Aviation Administration to change takeoff procedures to improve safety at John Wayne could result in even more noise for nearby residents. The FAA is proposing to ban the airport’s use of a power cutback at an altitude of 500 feet, which airlines adopted so that the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 could meet the airport’s strict noise limits. Four airlines currently fly a total of 12 MD-80s out of John Wayne. Without the 500-foot cutback, it is doubtful that MD-80s could continue to serve the airport. If they could not, airlines would be forced to substitute smaller, quieter aircraft or eliminate some flights.
Meanwhile, airport officials deal with some nagging problems at the terminal: Baggage occasionally jams on the conveyors. Consumers complain about the lack of directional signs and the $14 daily cost of covered parking in the garages attached to the terminal. (Cheaper long-term parking is available in the open-air parking lot directly across from the terminal’s baggage-claim area.)
Patrons are still irked by the lack of timely, visible shuttle bus service as an alternative to taxicabs. Instead of waiting at curbside, shuttle vans must wait in a remote staging lot until a customer calls for them from courtesy phones inside the terminal.
Nonetheless, people are generally enthusiastic about the new terminal. Airline officials even credit the cavernous, half-mile-long structure with boosting employee morale and productivity.
“It’s been a real joy to work here,” said Tom Reedy, Northwest Airlines’ station chief at the airport. “It’s definitely more convenient for our passengers, who no longer have to run outside between the gate and the airplane. And there’s a big change in the attitudes of everyone involved. This new working environment has made it a lot easier for the employees.”
Thomas, the vice president from Strategy Research, even loves the food. “I even pop over here for lunch sometimes,” he said. “The restaurants are great.”
Such customer reaction is gratifying to Isabel Villasenor, owner of the two McDonald’s hamburger franchises at the new terminal.
“We were able to meet our first-year sales projections even with the negative, five-month period of heavy security due to the Gulf War,” Villasenor said.
During that period, access to the gate concourse was restricted to passengers only.
“If there had been no increased security,” said Villasenor, “our performance would have been absolutely spectacular.”
Having weathered the first year of operation for the new terminal, officials are ready to tackle more airport projects.
Among them will be courtroom battles between the county and the terminal’s prime contractor, Taylor Woodrow Construction California Ltd. The firm contends in a lawsuit that it was improperly fired from work on the garages. County officials expect Taylor Woodrow to file suit to recover millions of dollars it says the county still owes for work on the terminal.
