Grant to Aid Study of Regional Aviation Needs

An $855,000 grant to study Southern California’s long-term aviation needs--including the possible expansion of the closed Palmdale Regional Airport--was awarded this week by the federal Department of Transportation.

The grant will help fund a $1.2-million study by the Southern California Assn. of Governments (SCAG) that will examine a range of options for accommodating increased air traffic in the region.

SCAG officials estimate that by 2020 the number of Southern California air passengers will reach 157 million, more than twice the 1995 total of 74 million. Cargo use during that time is expected to more than triple.

Although SCAG officials have said they consider expansion of Los Angeles International Airport and development of a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air station as critical to the region’s future aviation needs, community opposition to those plans has added urgency to exploration of other options.

Announcing the grant Tuesday, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) said he believes the study will demonstrate that expanding Palmdale Airport would go a long way toward meeting the region’s aviation needs.

“I look at it from a regional perspective,” McKeon said in a statement. “The question should be: ‘What’s the best way for all of Southern California to handle the demand?’ ”

“From that perspective, it’s obviously Palmdale.”

Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX, Van Nuys and Palmdale airports, owns nearly 18,000 acres in Palmdale, only a portion of which was ever developed for aviation uses.

First opened to commercial traffic in 1971, Palmdale airport has never lived up to the expectations of planners who believed it would provide a boost to the local economy and help relieve congestion at other regional airports. Plagued by a lack of interest from airlines and passengers alike, the airport has closed on several occasions, most recently in April when United Express halted operations there.

Still, McKeon said Palmdale remains the best choice for a new regional airport.

“The billions of dollars that will go into expanding LAX could be put into a bullet train and highway improvements connecting Los Angeles to Palmdale,” McKeon said. “Even without those improvements, Palmdale is more convenient than LAX for millions of people, when you take into consideration traffic [on the San Diego Freeway] and the ease of parking at Palmdale.”

SCAG spokeswoman Linda Bidrossian said she could not speculate as to what recommendations will come from the study, which is not scheduled to be completed until late 1999.

“We’re trying to look at the region from a historical perspective, what the trends have been and what they will be,” Bidrossian said. “We’re trying to determine what the needs will be in 2020 and what is economically feasible.”

The SCAG study will be overseen by a task force that includes elected officials, airport operators and airlines representatives.