No Lei-Over in Plan for Hawaii Flights

John Wayne Airport may get its first direct flights to Hawaii under a proposal that will be presented to county supervisors next week.

Among several alternatives being considered is one that would allow Aloha Airlines to become the airport’s 11th carrier and the first to provide daily departures to Honolulu and Maui.

In a letter to county airport officials, Aloha President Glenn R. Zander said the carrier would provide a “unique fit” for John Wayne Airport, which currently offers only flights within the continental U.S.

The carrier hopes to be flying out of the airport by April 1.

County officials were pleased with the prospect of adding daily departures to Hawaii provided the proposal is approved by Newport Beach and two citizens groups--all party to a 1985 court agreement that capped expansion of John Wayne Airport until Dec. 31, 2005.

“It sounds like a really neat market, and the thought that we can go from here to Hawaii sounds really inviting,” Board Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad said.

In June, Aloha certified a Boeing 737-700 under the county’s rigid noise standards. The dual-engine plane has been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration for transoceanic flights and is in use by Aloha elsewhere in California. The new-generation plane holds 124 passengers, 12 in first class and 112 in coach.

The new service, though, is tied to the fate of two cargo flights now flown from John Wayne Airport by Federal Express and United Parcel Service.

Each year, the county must get permission from county supervisors and the two Newport Beach citizens groups to let the cargo flights continue at John Wayne. The cargo companies have flown out of the airport since the mid-1990s.

The county also distributes two other flights that, likewise, must be approved each year by the three parties. Historically, the flights have been given to TWA and Continental, longtime John Wayne carriers. County officials have balked at giving the departure slots to a new airline, reasoning it would make little business sense to have a new carrier move in with only a one-year guarantee.

This year, though, the county has recommended a four-year extension for the flights, providing enough certainty to offer the flights to Aloha. The carrier, which also flies out of LAX, is at the top of a waiting list to get into John Wayne.

Supervisors will also be given the option of discontinuing the cargo flights and denying Aloha’s request. Still another options would continue the current arrangement.

Airport Director Alan Murphy said county negotiators hope to get approval from the citizen groups--the Airport Working Group and Stop Polluting Our Newport--by Tuesday’s board meeting. Murphy said one of the groups indicated it would sign off on the Aloha deal only if the county added a clause pledging that it will build an airport at El Toro.

Both groups have long favored building an airport at the retired Marine base as a way to relieve the pressure to expand John Wayne. Newport Beach is beneath the airport’s takeoff pattern.

Times staff writer Jean O. Pasco contributed to this report.