Ontario Airport Terminals Open Door for O.C., L.A. Growth Foes

Vineyards and fields of wildflowers still flank Ontario International Airport. Few neighbors complain about noise. And, by comparison, Los Angeles International Airport handles 10 times more passengers.

But the opening today of a $269-million terminal complex signals the airport’s larger ambitions.

For one, it serves the Inland Empire, home to the nation’s fastest-growing counties: San Bernardino and Riverside. Regional planners predict the number of Southern California air passengers to double in the next 20 years.

And with expansion efforts facing opposition at LAX and in Orange County, Ontario is seen as a relief valve for growing demand.

Officials fighting plans to convert the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into an international airport have long argued that Ontario can handle some of Orange County’s demand for passenger and cargo service.

They point out that the Ontario expansion is generally supported by surrounding communities, in marked contrast to the highly controversial El Toro airport proposal. Why build an airport where it’s not wanted, El Toro critics argue, when a nearby community is willing to take on additional air traffic?

Even its name, Ontario International, preaches hope. For now, the airport offers no flights outside the United States.

The two glass-and-steel terminals opening today, lined with limestone quarried from the Sea of Cortez, will nearly double the airport’s capacity, to 10 million passengers a year. About 6 million travelers passed through in 1997; 8 million are expected by 2003.

With existing airports operating over capacity, transportation officials say Ontario’s expansion is an important step in heading off gridlock at the four airports operated by the Los Angeles World Airports : Ontario, LAX, Van Nuys and Palmdale.

In fact, said LAWA executive director John Driscoll, “Ontario could become the third-busiest airport in California in 2020, after LAX and San Francisco.” There is, however, a long way to go. LAX handles about 60 million passengers a year, and that number would double if a proposed expansion is approved.

Under Orange County’s plans, El Toro would handle about 25 million passengers a year by 2020 while John Wayne Airport would handle about 9.5 million passengers.

Ontario will accommodate only part of the growing Southern California travel market, Driscoll said. “Every airport will have to grow.”

But beginning this week, Ontario International will at least look the role: Passengers will board planes from two-story terminals instead of having to walk onto the runway tarmac.

The new terminals were paid for with $148 million in airport passenger user fees and $94 million in airport revenue bonds. The Federal Aviation Administration paid another $27 million.

So far, Ontario airport’s growth has come mainly from its own backyard. About two-thirds of its passengers are from the Inland Empire--half from San Bernardino County and about 15% from Riverside County, according to airport surveys.

About 25% of Ontario passengers are from Los Angeles County and 10% from Orange County.

El Toro airport supporters say Ontario is too far from Orange County to serve as a primary airport for local cargo and passengers.

A decade ago, the Orange County Board of Supervisors attempted to reduce congestion at John Wayne Airport by luring more passengers to Ontario with a glossy public relations campaign. But the “Fly Ontario” campaign met with little success, in part because passengers didn’t want to make the one-hour freeway trek to Ontario International.

With freeway traffic expected to worsen over the next 20 years, El Toro boosters say Orange County will need another airport centrally located within the county.

In Los Angeles, Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who opposes growth at LAX, favors shifting even more passengers to Ontario.

“We have excess capacity at Ontario now, while we have none at LAX,” Galanter said. “My hope is that Ontario and LAWA does an effective-enough marketing job so that people in eastern Los Angeles County and Orange County use it more, and the airlines catch on.”

Ten passenger airlines now service Ontario airport, in addition to eight cargo carriers. Southwest Airlines operates nearly half of the airport’s passenger flights, and about 60% of passengers are business travelers, Watson said. The most popular destinations are Bay Area cities, Phoenix and Dallas.

The old terminal, which closed Saturday, was built in 1961 and designed to serve 3 million passengers a year. Because the airport has been operating at double its capacity for a number of years, Watson said, officials made no effort to attract more travelers.

With the opening of the new terminals, Ontario officials will begin a marketing program to urge travel agents across the country to direct Southern California-bound tourists to Ontario. Airport managers also are hoping to attract charter flights from Europe.

Analysts say such marketing efforts are not essential for continued growth.

“Because population and economic growth is stronger in the Inland Empire than the region as a whole, there’s a definite need [for the new terminals], though it might not be readily apparent in the next two or three years,” said Tim Merwin, an aviation planner for the Southern California Assn. of Governments.

One advantage Ontario holds is its neighborhood. The airport was built in an area zoned mainly for industrial and commercial uses. Although nearby homeowners--and some neighboring cities--complain about noise and scrutinize growth plans, opposition is “not at the level or intensity of El Toro, LAX or Burbank,” Merwin said. Local businesses support the expansion, mindful of the economic growth generated by large commercial airports.

Merwin estimates that Southern California air travel demand will rise to 157 million passengers in 2020, up from 74 million in 1995.

To accommodate the growth, SCAG projects LAX will handle 94 million passengers in 2020. In Orange County, John Wayne Airport is limited by a court settlement to 8.4 million annual passengers through 2005. So transportation planners look to the proposed conversion of the El Toro base to commercial use to handle growth in Orange County.

But both the LAX expansion and El Toro conversion face fierce opposition.

If LAX remains at its current capacity, SCAG projects annual passenger demand at Ontario to climb to 22 million by 2020. Without a commercial airport at El Toro--and minus the LAX expansion--SCAG predicts Ontario would have to move 28 million passengers a year.

To accommodate that many travelers, Merwin said, another runway and more terminals would have to be built at Ontario.

Some El Toro foes are also looking with interest at the efforts in Riverside County to convert the March Air Force Base into a commercial cargo hub.

The plan is still in its early stages, but some aviation experts doubt March will ever serve as a major regional airport because of its distance from job centers in Orange County and Los Angeles.

One obstacle to Ontario’s expansion is a state Air Resources Board restriction that limits the airport to 12 million annual passengers or 125,000 takeoffs and landings per year.

Airport officials expect the Air Resources Board to eventually ease the limits because of improvements in aircraft technology. Planes now operate more cleanly.

But even under the most optimistic outcomes, Ontario officials say no single airport can absorb the region’s growing number of travelers. Each have their own booming communities.

Besides, Driscoll said, as Southern California’s population growth continues, directing passengers to faraway airports would simply create a different kind of gridlock:

“It would mean driving for hours.”