Executive Travel : Leaving the Car Near a Smaller Airport

Although parking at one of Southern California’s small airports may not instill as much fear as the prospect of parking at LAX, three private park-and-ride companies have emerged in Burbank, Ontario and Irvine to compete with long-term lots owned by those cities. In Long Beach, the airport lot remains a near monopoly.

Economy parking at Burbank Airport costs $1 for the first four hours, then $2 an hour up to a maximum of $8 a day. The airport operates two long-term lots. Lot A is one block north of the airport’s main entrance and is open 24 hours; Lot B is half a block north of the main entrance and is open from 8 a.m. to midnight. Both have shuttles running every 10 to 15 minutes between 5 a.m. and midnight.

Burbank also offers self-parking across from the airport terminals at $14 a day and outdoor valet parking for $16 a day.

Across the street, privately owned VSP Parking offers indoor valet parking for $16 a day and outdoor self-parking for $10 a day. The shuttle ride from the parking lot to the terminal takes less than a minute, says Derek Sweet, VSP’s vice president.

“Half our customers park here for the security and half come for the service, especially the inside parking,” he said.

At Ontario International Airport, long-term parking costs $5 a day, and the lot is served by a shuttle every 15 to 20 minutes. Parking a mile away at a private lot operated by Sunrise Airport Parking also costs $5 a day, and the shuttle buses run every 10 minutes, said manager Khristine Rettke. The ride between the lot and the airport takes about five minutes, she said.

Rettke said Sunrise caters to business travelers who want to save time and like to be dropped off at their cars.

On-site parking at Long Beach Airport is operated by Ampco System Parking. The airport’s long-term covered lot costs $6 a day and is 15 yards from the terminal, said manager Yosief Tesfa. The remote outdoor lot costs $3 a day and is a 10- to 15-minute walk from the terminal. There are no shuttles between the lot and the airport, but luggage carts may be rented for $1, Tesfa said.

Frequent travelers can purchase a book of $5 passes to park in the covered long-term parking lot, for a savings of $1 a day, said Tracy Jameson, a spokeswoman for Long Beach Airport. No park-and-ride companies serve the airport.

Long-term parking at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport costs $1 an hour up to a maximum of $7 a day. A shuttle runs every 15 to 20 minutes to take passengers on the three-minute ride from the outdoor lot to the terminal. The Sheriff’s Department patrols the airport’s parking lots and break-ins are rare, said Pat Ware, a spokeswoman for the airport.

Ware said travelers often park long-term in the airport’s short-term parking garage in order to keep their cars indoors. The rate for the airport’s only covered parking is $14 a day for the first two days and $7 a day thereafter.

Parking a mile away at E-Z Airpark’s lot is cheaper. The charge for self-parking at the outdoor lot is $5 a day. A shuttle runs every 10 minutes to take customers on the two-minute ride to the airport.