L.A., Inland Empire Form Group to Plan for Air Traffic Growth

Undaunted by previous failed attempts, political leaders from the Inland Empire and Los Angeles announced a new coalition Wednesday to plan as a region for the growth of air traffic in Southern California.

Officials agreed that Los Angeles International Airport alone cannot handle a predicted doubling of air passengers and quadrupling of air cargo in Southern California by 2030. The coalition is the latest attempt by Southern California leaders to solve the region’s air capacity crunch.

The vast majority of the region’s air passengers rely on LAX, and airlines have been reluctant to start service at Inland Empire airports because, they say, there aren’t enough travelers there to support additional flights.

Cargo carriers also have hesitated to use smaller airports, saying that the infrastructure they need to ship freight exists at LAX.

Past attempts to get a regional airport plan off the ground, including the thrice-resurrected Southern California Regional Airport Authority, have failed because of infighting and the inability to reach a consensus.

Members of the new coalition, which doesn’t yet have a name, stressed Wednesday that they want to overcome dissension among airport operators once and for all.

“All of the communities must take off their parochial hats and look at the entire region as one,” said San Bernardino Mayor Judith Valles.

At a news conference at Los Angeles City Hall, Inland Empire leaders emphasized that their region has both the infrastructure and the political will to serve additional air passengers and cargo.

But some of the competitiveness that has dogged previous attempts to devise a regional airport was already evident. Several Inland Empire leaders said they haven’t decided whether to endorse Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn’s $9-billion LAX modernization plan, which would attempt to limit the airport’s capacity at 78 million passengers a year.

Officials from Los Angeles, El Segundo, Ontario, San Bernardino and Victorville agreed, however, that if growth at LAX isn’t curtailed, airlines won’t have an incentive to move flights to other facilities.

These facilities include Ontario International Airport, which is operated by the city of Los Angeles, and three closed military bases: Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, San Bernardino International Airport in San Bernardino and March Global Port in Moreno Valley. Officials from Orange County, where residents voted to build a park rather than an airport at the former El Toro Marine base, were not present.

“This window of opportunity is there for us today,” said El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon, a leading advocate for a regional airport plan.