Highway Congestion Tears at Southern California Air Travel's Web

Inland-area airports are ripe for expansion, but the most frequent business travelers in Southern California will have to fight worsening traffic congestion to get to them without better planning and more money, transportation leaders said Monday.

Airports in Los Angeles and Orange County will reach their limits in coming years, and Ontario International Airport is poised to absorb the overflow, said Mark Pisano, executive director of the Southern California Association of Governments.

But, while Riverside and San Bernardino counties routinely lead the state in population growth, the most frequent fliers in the region still live in the coastal counties. Their jobs in the high-tech, tourism and entertainment fields are far more likely to require extensive travel, meaning a trip to a less-congested outlying airport likely will get progressively less convenient without some action.

"The propensity to fly is still in the western part of our region," Pisano said at a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee meeting on aviation held at Corona City Hall. The meeting gathered testimony from experts on how the federal government can help meet the needs of future air travelers.

Even if billions of dollars are invested in the region's system of airports in the next 25 years to accommodate 80 million more passengers a year, just getting people between airports could be three times as expensive, Pisano said.

Congestion at the region's airports will inevitably make for longer lines at check-in, longer delays during security screening, more delayed flights and eventual damage to the regional economy, said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who led the meeting.

That, in turn, has a ripple effect across the country, Mica said, as delays often disrupt passengers further down the line. That has drawn the concern of federal aviation officials because Southern California is the nation's busiest region for air travel.

"The crunch will be here sooner than we expect," Mica said.

Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, who hosted the meeting, said he hears more about transportation from his constituents than anything else. He said Los Angeles International is returning to pre-Sept. 11 levels of flying activity more slowly than other area airports because "you can't get there."

Anyone from the Inland area who wants to fly out of LAX must leave at 4 a.m. and fight traffic on Highway 91, or depart at night or on a weekend, Calvert said.

Ontario may not be an option if a traveler needs to fly at a certain time or to an international destination.

Los Angeles World Airports, which owns and operates LAX, Ontario and Palmdale airports, is willing to lead a regional approach to aviation planning, said Jim Ritchie, the agency's deputy executive director for planning and development. But, he noted that the agency has no control over John Wayne Airport in Orange County or smaller airports in Burbank and Long Beach.

A similar effort, called the Southern California Regional Airport Authority, failed about four years ago, largely because the city of Los Angeles was not an active player in the discussions.

Calvert said after the meeting that he was encouraged that his counterparts in Washington had heard from regional experts.

"Our biggest problem is getting to the airports," Calvert said. "That is one of the biggest points we wanted to make."

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CONVENIENT AIRPORTS

The airports closest to the most frequent travelers but running out of space for expansion:

LAX

JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT

Airports with room to grow but farther from the heaviest concentrations of frequent fliers:

ONTARIO INTERNATIONAL

PALMDALE REGIONAL

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