No ‘aloha’ yet for airline

Paul Clinton

JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT -- Aloha Airlines won’t be setting up shop at John

Wayne Airport any time soon.

In an odd twist Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors

approved a five-year extension of two daily cargo flights and a potential

deal that could bring the Hawaiian airline to town.

But the deal is on shaky ground, after a promise from two county

supervisors that they will not approve a lease with the airline if the

proposed El Toro airport is part of the agreement.

Supervisors Tom Wilson, whose 5th District includes Newport Beach, and

Todd Spitzer both threatened to veto leases with Aloha and the two cargo

operators if the county promises Newport Beach it will shift flights to a

future El Toro airport.

On a slim 3-2 vote, the board agreed to extend the so-called “cargo

stipulation,” which provides an exception for Federal Express and United

Parcel Service to continue flying out of John Wayne.

While the cargo deal passed the board Tuesday, John Wayne Director

Alan Murphy needs a four-fifths approval to authorize the leases with the

cargo operators through 2005.

Late last week, Newport Beach and two activist groups -- the Airport

Working Group and Stop Polluting Our Newport -- joined airport officials

in support of a cargo extension, with the caveat that the county shift

the two daily cargo flights to El Toro if possible.

Those four parties, which each signed the 1985 settlement agreement

that imposed a bevy of flight restrictions at John Wayne, must all agree

to the cargo deal.

Wilson said the four should go back to the table.

“This cargo stipulation should only be focused on John Wayne,” Wilson

said. “Adding in words about El Toro serves no good purpose.”

Airport Working Group spokesman Dave Ellis said the anti-El Toro

supervisors’ threat to boycott the leases was political.

“Any time you say ‘El Toro,’ it’s like waving a red blanket in front

of a bull,” Ellis said. “They just go nuts.”

The bulk of the county’s cargo already is shipped up to Los Angeles

International or Ontario Airport, a situation 2nd District Supervisor Jim

Silva said needs to be changed.

Silva, who supports the cargo deal and the leases, said the county

should handle its own cargo. And all roads lead to the former marine

base, Silva said.

“El Toro has been an airport for 50 years,” Silva said. “It has the

capacity to handle the needs of Orange County.”