O.C. Airport Potential at John Wayne, El Toro

“Retain the El Toro Option” (editorial, Feb. 16), urging retention of the El Toro airport for future use for commercial air traffic, pulls the trigger without aiming. You miss the crux of the issue. With Orange County 86% built out and the John Wayne Airport operating at about half of its capacity in the hottest economy we have ever had, we don’t need any more capacity than already exists at JWA. Simply by permitting existing flights to operate at their capacity and upgrading a few of the smaller aircraft, JWA can handle Orange County’s needs into the future.

All of the area growth will occur in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and they have three closed bases to upgrade to handle their needs. You have been fooled by the power-mongers who want to gain monetarily by cramming a huge 24-hour-per-day operation into the middle of the best residential community in the U.S. They would turn South Orange County into another Inglewood for their own profit and to eliminate the hated JWA from the lives of the Newport Beach elite.

Not while I have a breath left in me. The grass-roots volunteers of South County will never give up this fight--and will prove once and for all that votes count more than big money.

Carl Schulthess

Mission Viejo

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The foes of the airport at El Toro love to point out that there is still a large, unused capacity at John Wayne Airport. From this they attempt to imply that John Wayne could handle future air traffic from Orange County. To see how wrong they are, all one has to do is examine why there is so much unused capacity at our local commercial airport. You can’t get anywhere from there. And if you can, it is outrageously expensive.

Case in point: Recently, I tried to make a reservation for my mother-in-law--who lives in Leisure World--to fly to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to visit her granddaughter. From LAX I could find several choices, including two nonstop flights and a one-stop flight with no change of plane. The cost of the round-trip is a bit over $300. There was an additional $55 for a round-trip van service from Leisure World to LAX.

From John Wayne Airport, the round-trip van fare was much less, but the total travel time, including to and from the airport, was considerably longer. In addition, the best connection required at least one stop and a change in planes, with the ensuing delays. But worst of all was the air fare. The cheapest flight cost more than $1,600!

Is it any wonder why our local airport has so much unused capacity? There is no way to enlarge that airport to allow long-range airplanes to fly out of there. So don’t count on John Wayne to handle our air traffic now or later.

David Feign

Santa Ana

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Your editorial is apparently based on the premise that the demand for air travel must increase inexorably into the future. Absent that demand, the land could be put to those people-friendly uses that you noted, such as parks, museums, etc., all of which would be far more beneficial to residents than would yet another airport.

The obvious solution to our ever-increasing air transportation problem is a modern, efficient system of high-speed passenger rail, which would provide a comfortable, convenient option-of-choice for travel to destinations up to 600 miles or more away. Rail transportation can be much more convenient, safe and environmentally friendly while greatly reducing overall demand for air travel. As an added bonus, the implementation of a high-speed rail system would produce very significant job-creation and economic stimuli throughout the nation.

Lawson Henry Lowrance

Chapel Hill, N.C.