Airport Poses Wake-Up Call for Economy, Neighbors

Ventura County businesses have long sought more commercial flights at Oxnard Airport, and more flights are coming. But what relieves businesspeople tired of driving to Los Angeles International Airport aggravates some airport neighbors.

Empty land, not homes, surrounded Oxnard’s airport for years as the county’s economy revolved around agriculture and the military. Now, however, growth has pushed around the airport, and much of that growth has come from businesses that want better and faster air travel.

Such a link between airline connections and economic growth was highlighted in a recent study by Cal Lutheran University that was co-sponsored by the Ventura County Economic Development Assn. and the Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura County. Their analysis concluded that insufficient airline service turned off the kind of businesses county residents said they want.

Companies with sales forces that must travel the nation don’t like it that their people often have to leave the county to catch a convenient flight, said Steven Kinney, president of the nonprofit Greater Oxnard Development Corp.

America West Airlines, however, noticed the demand and will start flights from Oxnard to its Phoenix hub Nov. 17.

“We did a market analysis and looked at the customer base and found the [Ventura County] area is growing,” said Janice Monahan, an America West spokeswoman.

Some of the growth, however, surrounds the Oxnard Airport, and residents there don’t care for America West or any other air traffic. They want the noise--or, failing that, the airport--to go away.

“If you have 30 people on an airplane coming in after 10 p.m. and that disturbs the sleep of 500 people, that makes a difference,” said John Flynn, county supervisor for the 5th District, which includes Oxnard. “You have the convenience of 30 people making it inconvenient for a few hundred people because of the possible disturbance of the aircraft.”

Some residents, Flynn said, want the airport to close at 10 p.m. and open at 6 a.m. That requires approval by the Federal Aviation Administration, and “I am making arrangements to visit with the FAA to determine the possibility of that,” said Flynn, whose son lives under the airport’s flight path.

Any kind of interference with the airport might jeopardize the ability to attract more clean or high-tech businesses that maintain the high quality of life, said Charles Maxey, dean of Cal Lutheran’s business school.

Sustaining that kind of business growth may be difficult, Maxey said, if the airport isn’t there. “We have to be competitive with other communities that want the same type of business growth. You have to have the tools: the airport.”

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The lack of adequate flights has sent some established and growing businesses out of Ventura County, officials said. And potential new businesses have stayed away. German auto maker BMW wanted to build a training facility here, company sources said, but the inability to handle flights for people arriving from all over the country led BMW to pick Ontario instead.

Many area businesses report that they would use the airport more often if there were additional connecting flights.

At Verizon in Thousand Oaks, spokesman Jonathan Davies said, “We don’t use the airport a lot, except for the corporate jet. We tend to use routes that aren’t served by the airport.”

In the meantime, residents are more than edgy. Timothy Flynn, the supervisor’s son, said about 10 homeowners in the immediate area are passionate about the issue.

Steve Buratti, who also lives under the flight path, said he wants the airport to shut down if airport authorities do not compromise and stop the noise by 10 p.m. each night. In addition, restrictions on building an elementary school in the area near the airport have compounded the problem.

“Both sides need to end this personality conflict and have a facilitator get them to agree on something,” said Timothy Flynn, a high school teacher in Camarillo.

Some of the residents are part of an ad hoc committee organized to solve the problem.

On the opposite side are members of the Airport Authority and those with interests in additional commercial flights. The 10-member ad hoc committee is evenly divided between pro and con groups, with five people on each side. Both sides, said Buratti, are “emotional and have dug in their heels.” Those who are directly affected monetarily are very passionate, he said.

On July 13, the committee, which has no legal authority, voted to close the airport. However, one member of the pro-airport faction was absent, and the group, which had not previously discussed the use of a substitute vote, did not permit an alternate to vote. Another member of the group left the meeting without voting.

Ultimately, the decision is in the hands of the county Board of Supervisors.

“The Board of Supervisors is not shutting down the airport and they have no intention of doing that,” said county Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford. “There are a group of people in the Oxnard community who are against the airport, but this goes on in all communities where there is an airport.”

For years, Supervisor Judy Mikels said, Oxnard’s airport was far away from development, but “the reality is that the community has grown and has allowed for encroachment around the airport.”

Major airports, such as LAX, are being squeezed by growth, Mikels said, which makes it critical for communities such as Oxnard to pick up more of the load. Airport opponents, she said, are really saying, “ ‘Let the people in Santa Barbara hear the noise.’ ”

Six years ago, relief appeared to come in the form of the Port Mugu Naval Air Station, which conducted a study to see if it could offer commercial flights.

“The next step was to determine if a carrier was interested in coming to Point Mugu,” said base spokeswoman Cora Fields. “But there hasn’t been a lot of movement.”

Meanwhile, businesses keep growing and airlines are watching.

“There is a very good business potential at United Express,” said Angie Perez, station supervisor for United Express at Oxnard Airport. “Our passenger loads have increased.”

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Six times a day, United Express takes passengers from Oxnard on a 30-minute flight to LAX. Depending on the number of seats sold, fares range from $112 to $495 for a one-way ticket.

Five years ago, however, United Express had 10 flights from Oxnard. The decrease, Perez said, was because of difficulty matching flights from Oxnard to flights leaving LAX, not because of threats to close the airport.

When America West begins its service from Oxnard to Phoenix in November, a round-trip ticket will cost $108. America West spokeswoman Monahan said the company will use a twin-engine turboprop De Havilland-8, which carries 37 people. The two daily flights mean 74 passengers could move through Oxnard each day.

Flights are scheduled to depart at 6:40 a.m. and 3 p.m. In the evening, the last United Express flight at Oxnard airport is scheduled to arrive at 10:55 p.m. America West’s final flight will arrive at 8:57 p.m.

As a hub-and-spoke airline, America West will send flights from Phoenix to points across the country. To accommodate the needs of the military, the airline will provide a one-stop connection to Washington (D.C.) National Airport.

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RADIO STATIONS ACQUIRED

Salem Communications Corp. in Camarillo has completed the purchase of eight radio stations. B6

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