Network of regional airports called vital

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press February 23, 2001

By ANN WISHART
Valley Press Business Editor

LANCASTER - With air passenger demand expected to double in Southern California in the next 20 years, Lee Harrington, president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said a network of regional airports - like the one in Palmdale - is a necessity in the near future.

"We very much believe we need a regional airport system" in Southern California, Harrington said at a membership meeting of the Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance on Thursday afternoon at the alliance's office.

Harrington said several communities, including Orange and Burbank, don't support enlarging their local airports, while Palmdale has been actively seeking a chance to get commercial carrier lines to come into Palmdale Regional Airport.

And, he added, the airport at Ontario is set to grow, has plenty of capacity and is the next logical step for development.

One of the biggest problems Los Angeles International Airport faces is access and egress from the terminals, as members of Thursday's audience pointed out. Harrington agreed that congested ground traffic around LAX is one of the reasons regional airports are so attractive.

"Shifting some of the air passenger and air cargo service away from LAX will help solve the airport ground access issue," he said.

Which sites will receive support for such growth is still uncertain, Harrington added.

"In the end, it's going to be a combination of planning and market forces that will determine where those airports are," he said.

Sixteen million people live within the "60-mile circle," which includes all of Los Angeles County and parts of the five surrounding counties. The region produced more than half a trillion dollars' worth of goods and services in 1999. The population is projected to grow to 21.5 million by 2020, with 90% of that growth likely in L.A. County and the Inland Empire, Harrington said.

Of the major issues he outlined - mobility of ground traffic, work force, housing, competition for land, and air and water quality - the Valley has some of the solutions.

"Some of those growth issues can be answered by the Antelope Valley," Harrington said, by developing a regional approach. "The business community seems to see a need for this. We have to get them engaged."

Adding to the pressure to develop a regional airport system and expanding other transportation systems is the projected growth of the amount of cargo coming into the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports in the next 20 years. Usage of the ports is growing faster than anticipated, with 9.5 million tons of cargo being accommodated in 2000. Between 18 and 24 million tons are expected to travel through the ports in 2020, he said.

These ports are the world's third busiest container ports behind Singapore and Hong Kong.