Congressmen back nonstop Aloha flights to D.C.

Alicia Robinson

Two local congressmen are pushing the Department of Transportation to

approve a request from Aloha Airlines to add direct flights from

Washington, D.C. to John Wayne Airport.

Rep. Chris Cox, who has to change planes when he flies between the

capital and his district three times a month, is backing the

airline’s request for four of 12 available slots at Washington Reagan

National Airport. He was joined in his support by the entire Orange

County congressional delegation, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who

said he got up at 5 a.m. Tuesday to catch an 8 a.m. flight out of Los

Angeles.

“It will be a big convenience for anyone from Orange County who

needs to go to the East Coast,” Cox said. “It will also be a positive

addition to travel options to have a new nonstop from Orange County

to Honolulu.”

Rohrabacher agreed that the flights would benefit travelers like

himself going from D.C. to Orange County.

“I would consider this to be a gift from God for which I would be

very grateful,” Rohrabacher said.

U.S Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta could decide as soon as

Friday whether to give Aloha Airlines the coveted slots at Washington

Reagan National, which would allow direct flights from the D.C. area

to Orange County and would add a second daily flight from JWA to

Honolulu.

“Being the second-largest county in the state and the

fifth-largest county in the country, it’s an important market to

serve,” JWA Director Alan Murphy said.

Cox said he offered his support because the airline is one of many

pursuing the slots at Washington Reagan National, and it’s up against

other carriers that are larger and do significant lobbying in

Washington, D.C. He and other local representatives sent Mineta a

letter urging him to approve the request.

When Washington Dulles International Airport was built in 1958,

Congress limited direct cross-country flights out of National to

encourage travelers to use Dulles, Cox said. The 12 new slots were

included in a Federal Aviation Administration bill passed last year.

“Right now, Orange Countians have to go to [Los Angeles

International Airport] or Long Beach to have nonstop flights to the

East Coast with only a few exceptions,” Cox said.

Rohrabacher said he has lobbied to get direct flights into

Washington Reagan National Airport before, but he has supported other

flight permission requests, including flights out of the former El

Toro Marine Air Base and United Parcel Service’s request for flights

to China.

“I would think that a flight from Orange County to Reagan would be

serving all of Orange County in a very positive way, and it would

certainly help me out, but I’m not the only one doing business in the

capital,” he said. “If the congressmen are the only ones who benefit

from this, they’ll cancel it pretty quick.”

Aloha Airlines specializes in niche markets, flying into smaller

airports such as Burbank and Oakland, airline spokesman Stu

Glauberman said.

“There’s a huge potential for both business, government and

leisure travel between [Washington, D.C.] and [Honolulu],” he said.

“We think it’s a fabulous market with great potential.”

JWA is Southern California’s third-largest airport. It served more

than 8.5 million passengers last year, airport spokesman Justin

McCusker said.

If Aloha gets the slots, it would offer two flights a day out of

JWA. A joint agreement between Newport Beach, Orange County, the

Airport Working Group and Stop Polluting Our Newport caps how many

passengers and flights the airport can have, so Aloha would have to

bump two existing flights to add the flight from Washington to

Honolulu via Orange County, McCusker said.

Glauberman said Aloha now offers five flights a day from JWA,

which are round trip flights to Phoenix, Reno, Honolulu, Maui and

Kona. He declined to comment on which flights might be scratched to

add the new routes.

“The issue is, is it good public policy or is it personal use of

power for personal convenience,” UC Irvine political science

professor Mark Petracca said of the congressmen’s lobbying on behalf

of Aloha.

If the airline was being pressured to offer the flight as a

condition of approval from the transportation department, that would

be inappropriate, but the congressmen’s support seems to be

potentially in the public interest, he said.

“They’re helping an airline, and in helping an airline they’re

helping themselves, and in helping themselves they’re conceivably

helping the public,” Petracca said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.