Board Supports Plan to Revamp Palmdale Airport

Following through with an agreement announced Oct. 1 by Mayor Richard Riordan, the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners approved a plan Tuesday to revamp the idle Palmdale Regional Airport.

The deal between the cities of Los Angeles and Palmdale includes restoring passenger service and expanding cargo facilities at the desert airport, drawing Palmdale into a regional strategy for handling the booming demand for air travel.

The number of passengers using Southern California airports is expected to double to 158 million by 2020.

“This kind of cooperation and innovation is the right approach to resolving future demand for air transportation service,” Airport Commission President John Agoglia said in a statement.

Under the plan, officials pledged to aggressively market the airport to passengers and airlines, with the goal of attracting 7.3 million passengers annually.

In a separate but related action, the commission voted to pay half the cost of a $700,000 study that will consider ways to link services between Los Angeles International, Van Nuys and Palmdale airports. The study, to be conducted by the Southern California Assn. of Governments, is expected to take up to three years.

A regional transportation plan adopted by the association in 1998 included goals to reduce congestion, improve air quality and increase ground access to airports. The latest study will consider ways to link LAX and Palmdale with the FlyAway bus terminal at Van Nuys and possibly a further link with Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, airport officials said.