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 [email protected].