County approves Hawaiian flights

Deepa Bharath

The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved

one-year leases for Aloha Airlines -- a decision that will ease the

tension of more than 6,000 passengers who have already booked tickets on

Aloha’s direct flights from John Wayne Airport beginning May 1.

“We’re delighted,” said Glenn Zander, President and CEO of Aloha

Airlines. “And we’re glad that it’s 5-0.”

The issue was on shaky ground a few weeks ago when Todd Spitzer and

Tom Wilson, whose 5th District includes Newport Beach and other South

County cities fighting an El Toro airport, said they would oppose the

leases if the county pursued shifting the airport’s two cargo flights to

an airport at the former El Toro Marine base.

That change, pushed for by the Newport Beach City Council and the

pro-El Toro Airport Working Group, was removed from the leases last week

after attorneys for the various groups and agencies negotiated the issue.

Wilson said he was not comfortable initially with the language in the

lease.

“My point is let’s try and separate the two [airports] while dealing

with this issue,” he said.

Tom Naughton, president of the Newport Beach-based Airport Working

Group, said he is “happy with the way things have been worked out.”

He added that the same issue “could very well” crop up again next year

since the board only approved the leases for one year. When the issue

returns to the Board again next year, it will again have to be approved

by four of the five supervisors.

Aloha has lobbied the airport for nearly a year to be added to the

list of John Wayne’s commercial airlines. In June, the airline

successfully qualified a modified Boeing 737 with the Federal Aviation

Administration for use at the airport.

Officials at John Wayne said they are also pleased with the board’s

unanimous decision.

“It’s always been our goal to have diverse carriers,” said spokeswoman

Ann McCarley. “We’re happy to add Aloha to the list.”

Aloha Airlines operates 1,100 weekly flights to the islands and back.

Apart from John Wayne, the only other airport in California that Aloha

takes off from is Oakland International.

The airline will soon begin working on getting ticket counters

assigned, setting up communications and heavy promotions, Zander said.

The first flight is scheduled to take off at 10 a.m. May 1 to Honolulu.