Carrier asks for routes to Hawaii from JWA

Paul Clinton

JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT -- Looking for an opening in the Orange County

travel market, Aloha Airlines has requested daily flights between John

Wayne Airport and the Hawaiian Islands.

The carrier formally requested two daily flights to the islands of

Oahu and Maui in a Dec. 7 letter to the airport, but the move has been in

the works since June. At that time, the airline qualified a Boeing

737-700 for use under the airport’s noise rules. Aloha also requested at

least one flight to Las Vegas.

“For some time now, Aloha Airlines has expressed interest in serving

the Orange County area,” said Aloha Vice President Stephanie Ackerman.

“We have told the airport that we are interested.”

Whether Aloha is granted the flights is up to John Wayne director Alan

Murphy and the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Once a year, Murphy

recommends how the airport should allocate flights to the 10 commercial

airlines. It’s a carefully planned balancing act because the airport must

stay within the limit of 8.4 million passengers per year, mandated in the

1985 settlement agreement.

Ackerman said Aloha would use a modified 737 jet that could handle up

to a 3,400-mile nonstop flight. The jet, which isn’t considered a

wide-body, would seat 12 passengers in first class and 148 in coach,

Ackerman said.

There are no existing flights to Hawaii from John Wayne. West Newport

Beach resident Alan Silcock said he’d like that trend to continue.

Silcock, president of the enclave’s homeowners group, said he’d like

John Wayne to stay a regional airport that handles short-haul flights to

San Francisco and other nearby locations used primarily by business

travelers.

“If I were to cast my vote, let’s expand instate transportation,”

Silcock said. “I’d rather leave the longer flights to [the proposed

airport at] El Toro.”

Barbara Lichman, head of the Airport Working Group -- which helped to

put the 1985 settlement in place -- could not be reached for comment

Friday. In addition to its role as a co-signer to the initial settlement

agreement, the group is actively working to ease air travel demand at

John Wayne by pushing for a second county airfield at the shuttered El

Toro Marine base. The group also supports extending the airport’s noise

and capacity restrictions, set to expire in 2005.

To grant Aloha the flights, Murphy would need to recommend an

amendment to John Wayne’s access plan. The county supervisors approve

flight allocations for the time frame between April to March, the

airport’s so-called planned year.

The airport, now operating at its capacity, would probably have to

strip flights from another airline to grant Aloha’s request.

“Right now, there is no capacity to allocate to them,” said airport

spokeswoman Ann McCarley.

But American Airlines announced it was buying out Trans World

Airlines, whose two daily flights could be available if the airline is

dissolved.