Commitment Needed for Palmdale Airport Revival to Fly

In the 1960s, far-sighted planners in the Los Angeles city Department of Airports bought up 17,000 acres of desert land east of Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale at a cost of $100 million to develop into an international airport.

So far, the city has gotten essentially nothing out of its investment, other than the profits that are generated by existing agricultural uses on the land. The city opened a small air terminal using the Plant 42 runways in 1971, but was never able to attract a consistent level of commercial air travel.

Now, however, a variety of factors are creating welcome movement toward what may not be a full-scale international airport, but what could be at least a significant regional airport that would help alleviate the pressures on airports throughout the area, from LAX to Burbank and Ontario.

I have long been a supporter of developing Palmdale Airport, based on common sense. The billions that would be spent on expanding LAX--with its high property values and high levels of congestion--would undoubtedly go a lot further in developing vacant desert land that the city already owns. When Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan met with California’s congressional delegation last year to urge support for his plans to expand LAX, I told him a regional approach that includes reviving Palmdale would be a better way.

Toward that end, this year I proposed legislation that would authorize Los Angeles World Airports, which oversees the region’s major airports, to grant easements for a future California Highway 138/Avenue P-8 bypass, which would help provide highway access to the airport.

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I am encouraged by Mayor Riordan’s announcement recently that Los Angeles World Airports is making a commitment to revive Palmdale Regional Airport. The city has spent $5 million already on infrastructure for a cargo operation at Palmdale, expected to be completed by the end of this year. It also plans to attract 4 million passengers yearly by 2010 and 7 million by 2020. Finally, the cities of Los Angeles and Palmdale agreed to work together to improve transportation between Palmdale and Los Angeles.

However, there was something conspicuously missing from the mayor’s big announcement: a commitment of a specified dollar amount toward a marketing campaign to promote Palmdale Airport. When asked about it at the news conference, the mayor’s staff said the specific amount would be decided after consultations with a steering committee.

To make Palmdale Airport a success, a large amount of money will have to be spent on a marketing campaign aimed at overcoming the perception among potential travelers, especially those in the targeted San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, that traveling to Palmdale is inconvenient. They have to be convinced that they will spend no more time going to Palmdale than they would going to LAX.

What’s the distance between Palmdale and the San Fernando Valley? It’s funny. If you ask people in Palmdale, they’ll say it’s about 45 or 50 miles. If you ask people in the San Fernando Valley, they’ll say it’s about 100 miles. That’s because they never go there, and they don’t realize how close and convenient it is.

In fact, even without highway improvements, it takes about an hour from most places in the Valley to drive to Palmdale Airport. That’s the usual time for a trip to LAX, when you consider the traffic on the 405, parking in a long-term lot and taking a shuttle bus to the terminal. As an added bonus, parking is free and plentiful at the Palmdale Airport.

In other words, the convenience is there, but it has to be marketed. Los Angeles World Airports needs to embark on a serious push, combined with incentives to airlines, to develop the passenger demand needed to generate viable usage of Palmdale Airport.

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Finally, I am very concerned about the short-sighted decision by a state commission studying a high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area to bypass Palmdale. A high-speed rail link would certainly make Palmdale Airport more convenient and feasible. Although running the train through Palmdale along the Antelope Valley Freeway would probably cost more than a straight shot down Interstate 5, the extra money would be well worth it in overall transportation efficiency. It is hard to envision people supporting the bullet train if it bypasses Palmdale.