John Wayne awarded for avoiding runway accidents

John Wayne Airport was chosen out of 73 airports from California, Arizona, Hawaii and Nevada as the recipient of a safety award for working to limit close calls on the runway.

The Federal Aviation Administration named JWA as one of 20 airports that had problems with runway incursions — when an airplane comes too close to another on the runway — late last year, but they were given the Airport Safety Award for reducing these potential hazards, administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

“One of the things we needed to do was to add a few more markings and lights on the airfield to help let the pilots know they’re approaching a runway,” said airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge.

John Wayne has a large amount of commercial and small, private aircraft, leading to the large number of runway incursions, but most of the airport’s close calls are not serious because there are substantial distances between the airplanes, Wedge said.

This is the first time the 4-year-old award has gone to a California airport. It was given to McCarrin Airport in Las Vegas last year.

— Alan Blank