General Aviation Plan for Airport Hits Turbulence

After three years of study, John Wayne Airport officials are recommending that the old Edward J. (Eddie) Martin passenger terminal be razed and that a new general aviation terminal be built at another site to serve the crews and other people using charter and private aircraft.

The announcement of plans to demolish the old terminal, named for one of the nation’s aviation pioneers, has long been expected, since the badly decaying building has been vacant since Sept. 15, 1990, when the airport’s new passenger terminal opened with five times the space of its predecessor.

But the proposal to build a new, 2,000-square-foot terminal for small planes far from the Eddie Martin Terminal site caught some potential users by surprise and encountered some turbulence.

“I view the plan as a complete betrayal,” said pilot Don Miller, a spokesman for both the Orange County Airport Assn. and the local chapter of the national Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. (AOPA). “They have given away the prime location that was promised to general aviation.”

Miller was referring to the portion of the county’s newly unveiled master plan for general aviation that calls for the Eddie Martin Terminal site to be reserved for Martin Aviation, the largest aircraft service provider at the airport, and as parking space for transient aircraft.

Miller noted that the old terminal site has existing parking lots and is easily accessible, while the site farther south along Campus Drive where the new general aviation terminal is envisioned has inadequate parking and is more difficult to reach.

Although John Wayne Airport is the nation’s fifth-busiest in terms of takeoffs and landings, about 80% of this traffic is generated by what are referred to as general aviation aircraft, ranging from single-engine, propeller-driven planes to large corporate jets.

And despite longstanding safety concerns among federal officials about the odd mix on John Wayne’s runways of small planes and heavily loaded jetliners, the Orange County Board of Supervisors has on numerous occasions vowed to keep general aviation operations at the airport.

Last year, airport officials determined that the old, 33,000-square-foot Eddie Martin Terminal was not structurally suitable to be converted into an aircraft service facility. Private aircraft owners had hoped that the location, because of its accessibility and ample parking, would be reserved for them.

Taxicabs and shuttle vans now use a weed-strewn portion of the old terminal’s parking lot while they are on call or waiting in line for passengers at the new terminal.

The new master plan for general aviation will be reviewed for the first time by the county Airport Commission on Wednesday night, and the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider it on March 23.

In addition to recommending demolition of the Eddie Martin Terminal, the master plan would require Martin Aviation and Pan Western to invest millions of dollars to upgrade their facilities in exchange for extensions of their leases. If they fail to comply, their leases would be put up for bid.

Although the plan would maintain about 750 spaces for small planes, it clearly envisions facilities that cater to “business” aircraft--small and large.

“The days of the leisure pilot at John Wayne are really numbered,” Deputy Airport Director O.B. Schooley said Monday.

Those are fighting words to Michael Church, owner of Sunrise Aviation, an airport tenant and operator of one of the largest flight schools in California.

Like Miller of AOPA, Church also termed aspects of the plan “a betrayal.” He estimated that 90% of the parking spaces currently occupied by small planes are leased by so-called leisure or recreational fliers, not corporate aircraft owners, yet the best space is being set aside for the remaining 10% of the airport’s users.

Miller said that the advisory committee for the plan met only three times and that no airport “customers” participated--only service providers, aircraft vendors and airport officials. “I question whether that really represents the people who use the airport,” Miller said.

Airport officials said that the master plan had been the subject of two major studies and meetings with interested parties and that it reflects the staff’s best analysis of what is economically feasible at John Wayne Airport.