Long Beach Airport: Status Quo or Upgrade?

Re “Airport Project Has Baggage,” May 11: Flying out of Long Beach has been one of my best experiences of air travel. Partly due to JetBlue’s fares, but mostly due to the Long Beach Airport experience. Over the last few years I have had multiple conversations with different people about the ease of traveling out of Long Beach. Anybody who has issues with an outdoor baggage claim or portable ramp should fly out of LAX or John Wayne. Let JetBlue expand out of Ontario and Burbank. Why is it that when something is working so well, there is always someone trying to change it?

Jeff Wight

El Segundo

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I have been a resident of Long Beach for 25 years and live under the final approach flight path at Long Beach Airport and can read you the numbers off the planes from my vegetable garden. I am also a former city councilman who fought hard for the limit of 41 flights a day and one of the many members of the Long Beach community who have come together to establish the Long Beach Alliance -- a coalition of residents, businesses and city leaders who support the much-needed airport improvements.

We are united by our disappointment in those in the community, including several City Council members, who oppose airport improvements and have been misleading the public with fear tactics. Upgrading the airport will not result in more flights, and we care deeply about the environment.

The alliance’s efforts are not an attempt to circumvent the environmental impact report. The majority of our community wants an upgraded airport -- not more flights. There are clear benefits to the community and the economy by improving the airport. That is what our great city deserves and what the alliance is looking to achieve.

H. Delano Roosevelt

Long Beach