TRAVEL AND TOURISM
Cargo Flights: An environmental impact report on the potential problems caused by adding two daily jet freight flights at John Wayne Airport has found minimal impact.
John Wayne doesn’t allow cargo flights at present. United Parcel Service and Federal Express have both indicated they would be interested in operating from there, saving their Orange County delivery trucks from having to drive to the Long Beach or Ontario airports. Many of their customers love the idea, because it would give them pickup times later than mid-afternoon for overnight shipments.
But since John Wayne has limited its number of flights, the fear was that the addition of each cargo flight would result in one less landing slot for a passenger flight. Those potential passengers instead would have to seek flights from other area airports.
The study, paid for by UPS, found that two daily cargo flights would cause no major increase in either noise from the Boeing 757s that would be used, or pollution or traffic tie-ups from airline passengers heading to other airports.
Even though the report appears to favor air cargo, it won’t be until next year that landing slots at the popular airfield could become available.
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