Hawaii Flights Approved, but Don’t Pack Yet

Orange County supervisors gave initial approval Tuesday for Aloha Airlines to launch service from John Wayne Airport, but the deal could collapse under the heavy weight of county politics.

If the airline is allowed to become John Wayne’s 11th carrier, it would fly two daily departures to Honolulu and Maui, Orange County’s first flights outside the continental United States.

The fate of the Hawaii departures, however, is indirectly tied to cargo flights that were first approved in 1995 and have been renewed annually. This year, for the first time, the county added language to the agreement stating that cargo service would move to El Toro once the proposed new airport is in operation.

Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Tom Wilson, who oppose an airport at the retired Marine base, said they would vote against renewing leases for Federal Express and United Parcel Service if the El Toro language is part of the deal. That could kill the cargo flights since four of the five supervisors must approve the leases.

“Cargo is dead at John Wayne Airport as long as they try to play games and bootstrap language on El Toro,” Spitzer said.

Wilson exploded in anger during a tense, hourlong discussion of the cargo flights, accusing pro-El Toro airport supervisors of trying to “muzzle” him.

“This is a John Wayne issue,” Wilson said. “We should not let folks with a special interest try to control it.”

A pro-airport spokesman said the controversial language is consistent with the county’s airport policy. John Wayne operates under strict passenger limits, which expire in 2005, and gives preference to passenger flights.

The county cannot “sneak” cargo flights into El Toro before a new airport is certified, and without drafting a separate lease, said Bruce Nestande, a former state legislator and county supervisor now working for Citizens for Jobs and the Economy.

“If [Spitzer and Wilson] want to be held responsible for killing cargo at John Wayne Airport, that strengthens the case that the South County anti-airport movement is irrational,” Nestande said. “You could get the anti-airport crowd to vote against Mother’s Day if you attached the words ‘El Toro.’ ”

Even if the cargo flights dissolve in the rancor of the El Toro debate, they could be revived--at the expense of the Aloha flights.

Under John Wayne Airport complex flight-allocation scheme, the two daily departure slots the county intends to award Aloha could be given to the cargo carriers instead. Still, four votes would be needed to approve such a deal.

Spitzer acknowledged Tuesday that state law spells out a specific process for initiating airport leases. But he said the county has skirted the law in the past on issues involving El Toro.

For example, he said, state law says that supervisors must approve the hiring of outside attorneys on a vote by four of the five supervisors. However, the county hired longtime aviation attorney Michael Gatzke without such a vote, prompting a lawsuit by airport foes. The county recently settled the suit, agreeing to get approval by four supervisors before giving Gatzke more El Toro litigation.

“I have no confidence they won’t try to sneak something in contrary to the law,” Spitzer said of the pro-airport board majority. “As long as El Toro is mentioned anywhere in any legal document that someone could point to in the future [as authorizing cargo flights at El Toro], I’m not voting for these lease agreements.”

Dave Ellis, spokesman for the Airport Working Group, a signer to the 1995 agreement, assailed Spitzer and Wilson, saying the leases were vital to business in the county.

Though their future is in doubt, the leases with Aloha and the cargo carriers will be negotiated and returned to the Board of Supervisors for consideration.