Supervisors to End Talk of Airport People Mover

Orange County supervisors are expected to end all talk today of dividing airline travel between short flights at John Wayne Airport and longer flights at the proposed El Toro airport, with passengers shuttling between the two on a people mover.

The Board of Supervisors will meet at 4 p.m. in Santa Ana over the conversion of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into an international airport.

The board’s pro-airport majority is expected to ditch the county’s plan for a two-airport system connected by a rail line in favor of a larger facility at El Toro and a smaller John Wayne Airport.

Late last week, the Air Transport Assn., the air carriers’ trade group, joined a chorus of voices endorsing an end to the county’s proposed two-airport system, arguing that forcing passengers to one airport or the other would be too costly and inefficient.

The airline industry wants more flights for Orange County, but not if arbitrary rules constrain which airports airliners can use for long-haul and short-haul flights, ATA Regional Director Neil Bennett said in a letter sent Friday to board Chairman Charles V. Smith.

Under the two-airport shuttle system, the county would have used the El Toro facility for travel of more than 500 miles and John Wayne Airport for travel shorter than 500 miles. With a rail line moving passengers between the two, the El Toro airport would have handled 23.4 million passengers a year by 2020 while John Wayne Airport would have handled 10.4 million a year.

Supervisors are expected to opt for a new plan today that would eliminate the people mover and allow the El Toro airport to handle 28.8 million passengers a year by 2020, reducing John Wayne Airport’s load to 5.4 million.

The airline association first raised concerns three years ago about the county’s attempts to dictate flights from the two airports. The approach was the result of heated negotiations at the Board of Supervisors to obtain a majority vote for the new commercial airport at El Toro.

Then-Supervisor William G. Steiner opposed a larger El Toro airport and wanted John Wayne Airport to handle more passengers.

In earlier letters, the ATA, which represents 21 airlines, opposed the rail link and the so-called “perimeter rule,” which restricts destination lengths at the two airports. The association also argued that any flight restrictions at the airports were unacceptable, including nighttime curfews and other noise limits.

The El Toro Citizens Advisory Commission last week voted 9 to 1 to recommend that supervisors drop further consideration of the rail link which could have cost nearly $500 million to build along the preferred route.