Adding Spitzer, Aloha Has Votes for Flights out of John Wayne

A deal that would allow Aloha Airlines to begin first-ever flights from Orange County to Hawaii on May 1 was approved in concept Wednesday by a key county supervisor who had threatened to hold up Aloha’s lease.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer said several actions taken this week by supporters of a proposed airport at the closed El Toro Marine base eased his concerns--and those of colleague Tom Wilson--over approving new airline leases at John Wayne Airport. The leases must be approved by four of the five supervisors.

Spitzer said Wednesday that he is prepared to cast the necessary fourth vote for Aloha’s lease when the board meets Tuesday. Wilson was out of town Wednesday, but his office said he had “lots of optimism” for the upcoming vote.

Aloha Airlines has already booked 6,000 passengers for flights between Orange County and Hawaii during May and June, even though the flights haven’t been approved by supervisors. One daily flight to Honolulu is scheduled to start May 1, with a second daily flight to Maui on June 1. The introductory round-trip fare is $437.

The El Toro issue had caused a standoff for months over new airline leases at John Wayne. Besides Aloha, the county had to reauthorize leases for two cargo carriers that have been allowed daily flights from the heavily restricted airport since 1995.

In the course of approving the leases for Federal Express and United Parcel Service, the county, Newport Beach and an airport-area residents group added a statement to a related court document calling for cargo flights to be moved to El Toro “as soon as possible.” That caused Spitzer and Wilson to pledge to vote against every new lease until the statement was removed.

Faced with two intractable supervisors, the Newport Beach City Council agreed Tuesday to remove the El Toro language. The Airport Working Group also agreed.

“To me, it’s not a victory,” Spitzer said Wednesday. “For them to have included the language originally . . . bordered on the realm of petty to make their point. The issue of El Toro should have nothing to do with John Wayne Airport. Now, they’re doing the right thing and we’re going to do the right thing.”

Newport Beach City Attorney Robert Burnham said the City Council wanted to resolve the issue without further argument.

“They wanted to be cooperative and this looked like a good resolution,” he said.

A spokesman for the Airport Working Group said its members will raise the issue again next year. Doing so would comply with the approval by voters in 1994 of the new El Toro airport, said David Ellis.

“It was a statement of principle and our commitment to that principle remains,” he said of the cargo statement. “We all now agree that we can provide cargo service and flights to Hawaii for a year.”

Airport officials had hoped to make the leases long-term, stretching to Dec. 31, 2005. That is when court-ordered restrictions on the number of flights and passengers at John Wayne are set to expire. But the wrangling over El Toro quashed the idea of long-term approvals.

Aloha spokeswoman Julie King said the airline has continued to work with airport officials on a new lease while the debate raged.

“We look forward to beginning our direct service from Orange County to Honolulu on May 1,” she said Wednesday.

Aloha plans to use two new Boeing 737-700s for the flights, new-generation planes that passed the county’s rigorous noise tests last summer. The aircraft, delivered this month at a cost of $80 million, are being configured with 12 first-class and 112 coach seats.

The only other California airport that Aloha flies out of is Oakland International.