JWA weathering air travel slump
Deepa Bharath
Airports across the country have experienced a continued decline
in domestic flight traffic since the Sept. 11 attacks, a national
report released Wednesday showed. But John Wayne’s drop has been far
smaller than many.
The report does not mention John Wayne Airport, but lists several
large, mid-size and small airports, all of which are seeing flight
operations drop. Los Angeles International now has 20% fewer flights
compared with last fall, a drop second only to Boston’s Logan
Airport, where numbers fell by 23%.
The study was paid for by Great American Station and the
MacArthur, Packard, Surdna and Turner foundations.
Orange County’s airport saw a 2.7% decline in flights over the
last 10 months since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that wreaked
havoc in the travel industry nationwide.
During that time, though, John Wayne has actually seen an increase
in passenger traffic. In November, the number of passengers going
through the airport increased by 6.2% compared to the same time last
year.
“We have been on the rebound pretty much since April,” airport
spokeswoman Ann McCarley said.
Until March, passenger traffic continued to be lower than in 2001.
But April finally saw a 1.3% increase -- one that has been steadily
climbing.
Flight operations are still on the decline. Total aircraft
operations decreased in November by 1% compared to the same time in
2001. General aviation activity for the same period showed a decrease
of 3.9%.
Despite those slight drops, McCarley said the airport has been
able to maintain a constant flow of passenger traffic.
“There are several reasons for that,” she said. “We have a high
number of business travelers. We have more short flights, and most of
our flights either originate or land here. We have very few
connecting flights.”
Another factor that helped was the strong local economy, McCarley
said.
JWA is also gearing up for the Dec. 31 deadline the Transportation
Security Administration faces to upgrade baggage screening equipment.
Federal baggage screeners began operating in JWA in October.
McCarley said the airport will be spending between $18 million and
$21 million to get infrastructure ready for the equipment. Everything
else including installation, testing and operating the equipment will
be the administration’s responsibility, she said.
McCarley added that the airport will seek federal reimbursement
for the money spent on infrastructure for the machines.
* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be
reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.