May 14 - May 20, 2012
LA’s pitches to improve Ontario don’t fly - The Press-Enterprise
Valet parking and VIP lounges are among the latest suggestions and strategies offered by the city of Los Angeles to best boost traffic at its Ontario International Airport.
But few, if any, of those ideas have taken off since Los Angeles World Airports began pitching them in 2008 when traffic began to plummet.
Shuttles to Disneyland, a discount for airlines and a proposal to farm out Ontario airport’s management to someone else have all been brought up by consultants hired by the LA public agency that owns and operates LAX and the Ontario and Van Nuys airports. None have been implemented.
Spreading air traffic to LAWA’s other Southern California airports isn’t a charitable goal for the agency. Los Angeles has been bound by a 2005 legal settlement with the neighborhoods surrounding LAX that opposed expansion at that airport.
In his presentation, Consultant Shelswell-White made conceptual suggestions that Ontario could re-brand itself, boost revenue and compete with John Wayne Airport in Orange County by offering features that would appeal to travelers with higher-end tastes such as valet parking, reserved parking or a club lounge.
The board has heard suggestions for years.
There was the idea to divert Disneyland visitors to the Inland airport with airfare rebates, shuttle rides to the theme parks and even early admission to encourage fliers to go to Ontario instead of John Wayne Airport in Orange County.
Los Angeles World Airports hired Peggy Ducey, who developed the Disneyland plan, to be the agency’s “regionalization coordinator” in July 2009 to come up with a strategy. Two years later she submitted a report but no action was ever taken.
May 7 - May 13, 2012
Threats made to 2 Southwest flights with ties to O.C., Phoenix - LA Times
Two Southwest Airlines flights with ties to Orange County and Phoenix were stopped Tuesday night after threats were made to the planes.
The first incident began about 7:30 p.m. after flight 1184 arrived at Sky Harbor International Airport from John Wayne Airport, the FBI said.
The plane was taken to an isolated area of the airport after authorities received an unspecified threat, said Special Agent Manuel Johnson of the FBI's Phoenix division.
He said the plane was searched, passengers were screened again and the flight was cleared. It was headed to Tulsa, Okla.
About an hour later, Southwest flight 811 at John Wayne Airport was taken to an isolation area after authorities received a bomb threat, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
Lt. Joe Balicki told The Times the "phone threat was received by an outside agency." "It was preparing to take off," he said. The flight was bound for Phoenix.
Bomb squad members searched the plane Tuesday night but found no explosive device.
With American Airlines gone, airport sees continued revenue drop - Burbank Leader
In the first full month since American Airlines pulled out of Bob Hope Airport, parking revenues at the airfield fell by 8.6% in March, officials reported this week.
While the drop is steeper than what the airport has seen in recent months, airport Executive Director Dan Feger said there are signs of a turnaround.
Preliminary parking-revenue numbers for April are showing improvement, Feger said, projecting a less severe drop of 3%.
Parking fees, which make up about 40% of the airport's operating revenues, were more than $1.5 million in March, compared to about $1.6 million in March 2011.
Passenger numbers dropped by about 6% in March compared to March 2011, according to a report released to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. The decline was below budget projections.
Los Angeles agency mulls re-branding Ontario - Riverside Press Enterprise
Ontario International Airport needs to re-brand itself and the Los Angeles agency that owns and operates it should do more to win over Inland residents
who have been swayed by a campaign calling for local control of the airport, said a consultant hired by the agency.
Los Angeles World Airports hired Edward Shelsell-White, a senior director with Aloft Aviation Consulting, to propose a re-branding strategy for the airport, much like a private company would remake its image to appeal to customers.
"We believe . there is indifference to the brand - not hostility, indifference," he said at a meeting Monday afternoon of Los Angeles World Airport's board of airport commissioners.
To overcome indifference, Shelsell-White said, LAWA needs to counter a vision created by the city of Ontario. He said the city has painted a picture of an airport on the brink of closing unless Los Angeles gives it up to an Inland airport authority.
He also recommended that the Los Angeles agency appeal to the airlines that don't see Ontario as good for business. To make airlines more financially
comfortable at Ontario, Shelsell-White suggested that LAWA suspend a $4.50-per-passenger facility charge that's passed on to each traveler.
It costs airlines about $12 per passenger - not including the $4.50 - to do business at the airport, a cost criticized by the city of Ontario as too high compared to other Southern California airports.
During discussion of the proposal at the meeting, Valerie Velasco, a LAWA commissioner, told Shelsell-White that she has a relative and friends living in Claremont and Redlands who have regularly driven to LAX because they can choose from more flights and pay less.
"It's so often worth it for people to drive to LAX for a cheaper airfare," she said.
Lowering fares would be no small challenge, Shelsell-White said, but it might be able to cater to people accustomed to higher-end amenities - travelers that might otherwise choose John Wayne Airport.
LAWA board criticizes plan to better market LA/Ontario International Airport -The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
A marketing plan that was supposed to address the steep decline in passenger traffic at LA/Ontario International Airport was criticized by Los Angeles
World Airports' governing body Monday.
The proposal, which looked at rebranding ONT as a high-end facility, was met with criticism from the commission.
After more than an hour discussing the plan, the board directed staff to continue to research marketing strategies for ONT and come back with a report.
Monday's discussion was in response to a request made by the commission in late December after the departure of a LAWA employee who handled the
marketing for medium-hub facility.
Ontario officials - who are fighting to regain control of ONT - say the airport has been hemorrhaging passengers at the expense of its operator, which has neglected to market the medium-hub facility to airlines.
LAWA officials have said ONT's situation is not unique, with 30 other medium-hub airports in the United States experiencing similar declines.
The board also asked White and LAWA to do more research on the driving factors affecting ONT.
April 30 - May 6, 2012
Los Angeles International Airport has been named the second worst airport in America by the readers of Travel + Leisure magazine. - CBS
The magazine’s first-ever airport survey asked its readers to rate 22 major airports in seven categories: flight delays, design, amenities, food and drink, check-in and security, service and transportation and location.
LAX was ranked at the bottom of most of the survey’s categories – 20th for location, 21st for check-in and security process and 22nd for impression of safety standards. The airport also scored 20th for baggage handling, 21st for staff communication and 21st for terminal cleanliness.
Only one airport was considered worse than LAX – New York’s La Guardia Airport.
John Wayne, Bob Hope, Long Beach and Ontario Airports were not included in the survey.
JWA continues with soft 2012
Airline
passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport decreased in March 2012 as
compared to
March 2011. In March 2012, the Airport served 727,841 passengers,
a
decrease of 1.8% when compared to the March 2011 passenger traffic
count of
741,489.
Commercial
aircraft operations decreased 3.5%, while Commuter aircraft operations
decreased 34.6% when compared to the levels recorded in March 2011.
April 23 - April 29, 2012
Airline mergers don't bode well for airports like JWA - OC Register
The paint is barely dry on the repainted planes of the United-Continental merger, and another pair of big airlines seems headed for a hook-up.
US Airways pulled an end run around American Airlines management this month, coming to agreement with the bankrupt airline's pilot, flight attendant and mechanics unions on contracts if the airlines combine.
Mergers that are good for corporate headquarters are usually bad news for airports like John Wayne. As a secondary airport on most airline route maps, it's a place airlines historically look to cut destinations. After the Delta-Northwest merger was finalized in 2010, Delta ended the nonstop service between Orange County and Detroit it inherited from Northwest
The United-Continental merger is fresh, but the "new" United announced last week that it will end nonstop service between John Wayne Airport and Honolulu. That was a route it inherited from Continental. United had already pulled out of O.C.-Maui service this year. I'm keeping my eye on the nonstop service to Newark, N.J., another Continental holdover.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, any cutbacks in service at John Wayne Airport were often replaced by new routes or new airlines. Capacity caps kept a sometimes long line of new airlines on a waiting list. Those who were already in could count on the limits to keep fares high, and the booming economic climate meant a large percentage were business travelers who would pay for higher-priced last-minute tickets. The Orange County Board of Supervisors would occasionally turn down airlines' request for a place at John Wayne Airport.
As late as spring 2009, there were four airlines on the waiting list. Then came the recession. Today there is one – Horizon Air. A spokeswoman said it has no plans to start service.
United ending O.C.- Honolulu service April 30 - OC Register
United Airlines said Wednesday that it is ending service between Orange County and Honolulu. The last flight will be next Monday. "We weren't seeing the demand we anticipated and the financial performance we needed," said Rahsaan Johnson, a United spokesman in Chicago.
Johnson said United would actually run six special round trips in June that were heavily booked: June 7, 9, 13, 14, 19 and 27. Passengers with tickets on other dates should contact United for rebooking or refunds.
The end of service comes as United is finishing its merger with Continental. The new airline, called United, has a heavy flight schedule to the islands out of nearby Los Angeles International Airport.
United ended JWA service to Maui on Jan. 2. It moved the Honolulu flights to evenings in both directions. The flights had operated on an ever-changing schedule, with daily flights during the summer, spring break and winter holidays, lighter service in the spring and often no service at all during the non-holiday autumn and winter months.
Hawaii flights had been popular under Aloha Airlines, which by early 2008 offered flights to Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island. The service stopped abruptly when Aloha declared bankruptcy in April 2008 and went out of business. Aloha said the flights from Orange County had been profitable and the bankruptcy was caused by "predatory pricing" on inter-island routes by upstart airline go!
Though Alaska Airlines stepped in to gobble up Aloha routes from cities like Oakland and San Diego, it stayed away from Orange County. Alaska even flies non-stop to Honolulu from Bellingham, Wash., with a population of 81,070.
Orange County, with over three million residents, now has no non-stop service to Hawaii.
Bob Hope Airport ad plan gets poor review - LA Times
Bob Hope Airport commissioners this week waved off a planned print and online ad campaign while keying in on the message they most want to get across: Whatever your L.A. destination, fly Burbank.
Members of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday were skeptical of the concept because of what commissioners feel is a lack of
emphasis on the convenience of Burbank's airport.
A combination of newspaper advertisement and online ads were scheduled to start in early May and end in July, said Steven Forsythe, chief executive of
FFE Group Communication Partners, the firm consulting on the campaign.
Website Editor: Officials at LA/Ontario Airport have complained bitterly about the lack of advertising for their airport by Los Angeles decision makers. In Orange County, there appears to be limited interest in attracting more travelers; negotiations are beginning to extend John Wayne Airport's passenger caps beyond their expiration in 2015.
April 16 - April 22, 2012
Bob Hope Airport seeks to add 'Burbank' to name - Burbank Leader
Officials say the temporary name change will help travelers know the airport's location.
Bob Hope Airport will soon be known as Burbank Bob Hope Airport as part of a new summer ad campaign to drive more passengers to the regional airfield during its peak travel time of the year.
The temporary name change comes as officials respond to airline concerns about the lack of a city identifier in the name of the airport, said John Hatanaka, the airport's senior deputy executive director.
Website Editor: Orange County temporarily toyed with the sensible idea of linking John Wayne Airport with its location but did not pursue the proposal.
More runway warning lights will be added at LAX to increase safety - LA Times
Federal and local officials announced Monday that more runway warning lights will be added at Los Angeles International Airport to help prevent aircraft from unsafely entering active runways and taxiways.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, an earlier installation of lights greatly reduced the number of runway incursions at LAX, which had the most runway safety violations in the nation from 1999 to 2007. LAX completed the project’s first phase in June 2009, when lights were installed along a runway and eight taxiways that were deemed to have the highest risk for aircraft accidents.
April 9 - April 15, 2012
Statistics show Ontario airport shouldn't fail - Riverside Press Enterprise
Lots of information was thrown at the Assembly Select Committee on Inland Empire Transportation Issues when it met at the former Norton Air Force Base on Thursday.
Speakers were limited to a few minutes each, so some of the statistics flew by awfully fast. Here are a few highlights:
Passenger volumes at Ontario International Airport (ONT) have sunk to 1987 levels, although the population served by the airport has grown by 600,000.
That, Ontario Councilman Alan Wapner said, just doesn't make sense.
Budget airlines like Spirit, Allegiant and Virgin America - which normally operate out of secondary airports like ONT - chose LAX instead of ONT when initiating service in recent years.
The number of passengers at ONT is not expected to rebound to 6.4 million (the pre-9/11 level) until 2030, while at LAX, the numbers are expected to top their legal limit of 78 million by 2018 and overflow to 108.6 million by 2030.
Los Angeles World Airports officials like to blame ONT's problems on changes in the airline industry. And it's true airlines are consolidating and cutting back on flights at secondary airports to reduce empty seats.
That doesn't explain why ONT lost 33 percent of its passengers while Bob Hope lost only 9.4 percent - and John Wayne actually grew 11 percent, Palm Springs 18 percent and Long Beach 388 percent.
It also doesn't explain why passenger traffic at LAX is rebounding while ONT continues to lose. The city of Los Angeles operates both.
Confidential JWA negotiations "progressing satisfactorily"
Newport Beach City Manager David Kiff recently told the city's Aviation Committee that the confidential negotiations with the county to extend the settlement agreement were "progressing satisfactorily."
The agreement expires on December 31, 2015. Any agreement, and particularly any pact to increase the number of flights and passengers served by the recently expanded airport would probably involve the time consuming preparation of an environmental impact report.
It was reported that two meetings had been held between the county, city and two Newport Beach citizens groups. To the best of our knowledge, the airlines, FAA and flying public have been excluded from the discussions that are conducted under the cover of confidentiality agreements.
LAX's Bradley Terminal project cost heads skyward - LA Times
Officials say the modernization budget has grown from $1.4 billion to nearly $2 billion, mostly because of changes to the original plans.
The cost of expanding a key terminal at the center of Los Angeles International Airport's modernization plan has increased from about $1.4 billion to almost $2 billion.
But airport officials say the overall $4.1-billion modernization program, as well as the now more-expensive Tom Bradley International Terminal, are still on schedule and within budget because of a built-in contingency fund and cost savings achieved on other projects in the revitalization effort.
The improvements, designed to restore the airport's reputation as the premier international gateway on the West Coast, include wider taxiways, new escalators and elevators, remodeled passenger facilities and a rebuilt central utility plant to provide heating and air conditioning throughout the terminal complex.
At the Bradley, about a million square feet will be added and 18 gates will be built, six more than the facility now has.
Airport officials say the first of the current projects should be completed in September, when a gate designed to accommodate Airbus A380s, the largest passenger plane in service, is scheduled to open on the north side of the Bradley.
April 2 - April 8, 2012
Market forces are at play at regional airports - LA Times
Some days, the terminals at L.A./Ontario International Airport can be as quiet as a ghost town.
The number of passengers using the airport — about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles — dropped to about 4.4 million in 2011 from 6.8 million passengers in 2007, according to federal statistics. In January, passenger traffic again dropped 7.4%, compared with the same month in 2011.
Passenger numbers also dropped, although less dramatically, at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana.
In contrast, Long Beach Airport, about 20 miles south of L.A., continued to boom, serving more than 3 million passengers last year, a 7% increase over 2007, with growth continuing in 2012.
What's to blame for the differences in passenger numbers among small airports in the same region? Click for more. . .
Regional air travel up 5% through February
Air passenger travel for the six airports in the SCAG region was up by 5.3 percent for the first two months of 2012 compared to 2011.
The pace was led by Los Angeles International and Long Beach airports. Palm Springs International also saw a pickup in traffic.
John Wayne traffic was down slightly and both Bob Hope and Ontario experienced down periods. See details in the reports below.
Passenger numbers fall at Bob Hope Airport - Burbank Leader
Passenger and parking revenue figures at Bob Hope Airport continued their downward glide in February as the airfield moves forward with some uncertainty after the loss of American Airlines.
The airport handled 309,259 passengers in February, a 1.7% drop from 314,259 passengers during the same period last year, according to a report released Monday to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.
The number was slightly below what was budgeted, said Dan Feger, the airport's executive director.
The fact that the passenger tally was so close to the budgeted projection was surprising because of American's departure in February, Feger said, adding that the unexpected loss of an airline wasn't factored into the budget when it was drafted.
American had accounted for about 7.5% of passenger traffic at Bob Hope Airport.
So far this year, 642,789 passengers have traveled through the Bob Hope Airport since January, a nearly 2% drop from the 655,610 passengers handled during the same period in 2011.
LGB Traffic Increases by 11.1 Percent - Long Beach News
According to a report released by Los Angeles Worlds Airports the Long Beach Airport (LGB) has seen a [February] traffic increase of 11.1%, one of the highest in the state.
Meanwhile, ONT saw a drop of 5.8% while LAX saw a rise of 8.2%. Several reasons explain the fluctuations, with one of the top reasons being airline mergers, where more airlines are shifting their business to larger hubs like LAX and avoiding medium hubs like ONT.
Many claim that LGB's success lies in its devout partnership with Jet Blue Airlines, which accounts for a large portion of the airport's traffic. Meanwhile, ONT faces an uphill battle where low-cost flights account for more than half of its base traffic. The airliners that provide these flights -- specifically Southwest Airlines -- have begun to cancel flights in ONT and move into larger markets.
Factoring in seating at L.A./Ontario International Airport - The Redlands Daily Facts
As traffic continues to decline at L.A./Ontario International Airport, a forecast shows monthly seat departures out of the medium-hub facility is slumping.
Departing seats at ONT compared to the same month in 2011 will continue to decline through October, according to the Official Airline Guide, an index
on the travel industry.
There will be 25,000 less seats departing from ONT in April compared to April 2011, a 9.8 percent decline.
Also, a 8.9 percent decline is expected in May while June and July will experience dips in the 7 percent range, according to the forecast.
The Official Airline Guide can be used as a gauge of how much air service is available at ONT.
As the number of seats decrease, there is a natural fall off in passenger traffic because there are fewer seats to book.
