Countywide : Feedback Sought on Cargo Flight Proposal

A proposal to allow commercial cargo operations at John Wayne Airport will face another hurdle today when the Orange County Planning Commission seeks public comments on the adequacy of an environmental impact report.

The study, prepared by the county Environmental Management Agency, assesses requests to fly cargo flights from the airport by United Parcel Service and Federal Express. The companies are each proposing one flight per day, Monday through Friday, from the airport to their sorting centers.

The cargo aircraft would be Boeing 757-200s and Airbus A-310s.

The Board of Supervisors will consider the request at its Dec. 6 meeting.

Among the proposal’s opponents is the city of Newport Beach, which retained two law firms to help prevent the cargo flights. City officials fear that allowing the flights would open the door to negating a hard-won 1985 settlement of a lawsuit about airport noise.

Under that agreement and a 1990 county access plan, no more than 73 noise-regulated aircraft may depart from the airport each day. All of those flights currently are allotted to passenger carriers, in part because of a provision in the plan giving preference to aircraft with 75 or more seats.

If the county approves cargo operations at John Wayne Airport, Newport Beach officials are concerned that two of the 73 daily flight slots would be switched to United Parcel Service and Federal Express. That could prompt passenger airlines to sue to get their flights back, officials fear.

The Planning Commission hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the Hall of Administration Building, 10 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana.