Runway to Be Closed for Monthlong Rebuilding
Hundreds of private pilots who use John Wayne Airport for takeoffs and landings will have to use other airfields in the next month because of round-the-clock construction on the runway dedicated to general aviation, officials said Monday.
Airport spokeswoman Kathleen Campini Chambers said commercial air carriers are not expected to be affected by the construction. But private aircraft, which account for 80% of John Wayne’s operations, will have to share a runway designed to handle giant jets.
Construction, which is expected to be completed in four weeks, began Monday. Airport officials said that operations went “very smoothly” the first day.
Michael Church, manager of Sunrise Aviation, a flight school based at John Wayne Airport, agreed that there were no major problems Monday, but he said that private pilots have adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
“It’s too early to say what’s going to happen. . . . We have assurances from the FAA and county that they will work to accommodate everybody while the runway is being rebuilt,” Church said.
For now, Sunrise Aviation’s students are using the airports at Fullerton and Long Beach for practice takeoffs and landings, Church said.
John Wayne Airport, one of the world’s busiest airports handling both private and commercial aircraft, has two runways. The longer is used by both air carriers and private planes for takeoffs and landings. The shorter is used mainly by private planes for takeoffs and landings and by commercial jets lining up for takeoff on the longer runway.
Campini Chambers stressed that efforts were being made to keep disruptions to commercial flights to a minimum, but cautioned there could be some delays.
“If there are delays overall, it will be on departures and arrivals,” she said, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration regulations require a five-mile separation between commercial jets and general-aviation aircraft.
The $1.8-million project is expected to be completed before the end of October, weather permitting.
The runway used by general aviation needs to be strengthened because it was not designed to handle the weight of commercial jets, which park there while waiting to take off, Campini Chambers said.
“In the morning, prior to 7 a.m., all of the commercial aircraft queue up to depart on the shorter runway. This runway was built to handle the lighter, general-aviation aircraft, and the weight of the commercial jets was affecting it. The runway needed to be reconstructed in order to strengthen it,” she said.
Church noted that it is not just private aircraft owners in the general-aviation community who rely on the airport.
“It’s one of the three largest of its kind in the world,” Church said of John Wayne. “Eliminating one runway for a while is going to affect everybody who uses it, but the private community is going to be more inconvenienced.”
“The point we want to make is that it’s not just a bunch of private guys who are being inconvenienced. Most people don’t know that a tremendous amount of Orange County business is conducted at this airport. You have many local corporations who fly their own aircraft out of here and charter companies that fly passengers in and out,” Church said.
Airport officials said there were 81,004 takeoffs and landings in 1997 by commercial jets, and 363,725 by general-aviation aircraft during the same period. In addition, charter aircraft had 18,418 takeoffs and landings in 1997.
Campini Chambers said that airport officials worked with private pilots in scheduling the runway construction.
“We had meetings with them for a number of months. They asked us to delay construction from the summer months until fall, because flight schools are busier in the summer. By scheduling construction in the fall, we will limit the impact on general aviation,” Campini Chambers said.
Church agreed that county officials were “very cooperative in listening to our concerns.”
Construction is also taking place in the east parking lot, across from the airport terminal. The parking structure is undergoing a $27.6-million renovation to add two levels to the two-story garage. When construction is completed by May, 1,962 spaces will have been added to the 7,467 previous spaces.
During construction, airport officials recommend patrons park at the Main Street parking lot, about half a mile from the main terminal. Shuttle service from the lot to the airport is provided free every 10 minutes.
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Big Jets Taxing Runway
Runway 19L at John Wayne Airport closed Monday for a monthlong, $1.8-million construction project. Commercial airliners using the small-plane runway as a taxiway are taxing the surface. Doubling the thickness and widening the shoulders of the runway are expected to correct the problem.
Commercial runway: 5,700’ x 150’
General-aviation runway: 2,887’ x 75’
Emergency overrun rebuilt, widened: 400’ x 150’
Distance between runways 500’
OLD
Remove single-layer runway, excavate shoulders.
NEW
Build three-layer runway, widen shoulders.
Source: John Wayne Airport; Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times
