LAX Status Update -August 2010

Airline passenger traffic growth at LAX was expected to reach the 78 Million Annual Passenger level well before 2020, but LAWA now concedes that it will be at least 2025 or longer. Passenger counts are rebounding faster at airports other than LAX with the exception of LA/ONT which is down substantially from two years ago. Part of the cause is ticket affordability according to Cheapflights.com which rated Bob Hope, Long Beach, and John Wayne Airports ahead of LAX.

AP reports a substantial increase in near-collisions in the North Eastern US. This was a local concern around LAX in the past when air traffic was higher. This is an opportunity to develop a network of airports to distribute the traffic before demand exceeds capacity. The High Speed Rail system can help with local stops at Palmdale, Ontario, and possibly Bob Hope Airports.

Construction of the new Tom Bradley Terminal and Central Utilities Plant at LAX is moving forward. Other major projects such as a Consolidated Rental Car Facility which would reduce traffic in the Central Terminal Area remain stalled despite being “green lighted” in the 2004 LAX Settlement Agreement. A new Master Plan cycle is to begin later this year. Alternative proposals for study have not been released, but it is expected that several controversial ones like moving runways north will be included.

Further repairs of LAX still need to be made. CalTrans inspection reports of the upper roadway bridge in the Central Terminal Area indicate that expansion joints been failed since 2003 and subsequent inspections have been more critical.

LAX Status Update -May 2010

LAX

The LAX Master Plan process is restarting year-end with a Notice of Preparation and new Environmental Review. Current improvements at Tom Bradley are progressing as well as the first of two midfield taxiways. The Central Utilities Plan replacement is progressing. Up scaled concessions are being added in terminals with more tied to the new construction. Numerous small maintenance projects continue. Upper terminal roadway repair to replace failed expansion joints remains an open issue since first identified by CalTrans in 2003. Auto traffic remains a problem at terminals although the number of people using LAX remains down but is improving slightly. Nothing is happening with the Consolidated Rental Car facility which could help traffic concerns by reducing the many buses.

The report to end all reports, The Final Northside Runway Safety Study, by the Academic Panel (AP) who have done much lauded FAA work in the past and NASA was released last week. The controversy continues. The AP draft report stated that the runways are already extremely safe and that only nominal safety improvements (though significant percentage) would be gained by moving north, wiping out substantial portions of the Westchester Business District. The FAA criticized the AP draft report demanding runway movement only to have the AP respond that they used FAA information and followed their FAA policy—something not done in its criticism of the report. The AP continues to state that the only valid justification for moving the runways is expansion, not safety. The Controllers Union, NATCA, wrote a position paper which agreed with the AP. Fully trained, adequate controller staffing of the tower remains an open FAA issue. Meanwhile, quicker and cheaper safety improvements resulting from moving taxiways has been identified but not started.

Van Nuys

Beginning July 1, 2009 LAWA will initiate a new online flight tracking and aircraft noise complaint entry system calledWebTrak. The Community Response Line for noise complaints is (800) 560-0010. The phaseout of stage 2 aircraft (there are exceptions for historical and military aircraft) is proceeding and the Part 161 Study supporting a request to the FAA is almost complete.

LAX's north runways are safe and should stay as they are, NASA panel says

A NASA panel says the north runways at Los Angeles International Airport are safe and should remain in their current configuration, according to a report released Friday.

The panel said that while other proposals -- including widening the distance between the two north runways -- might make the airport runways safer, "the risk is so low, reducing that risk by a substantial percentage is of limited practical importance.”

A committee of academics working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration released a preliminary copy of the report Friday morning at the Flight Path Learning Center near LAX.

LAX Status Update -November, 2009

LAX averted a major disaster on the “fixed” southern runway complex when a landing aircraft missed one on the ground by several feet. The FAA’s pronouncement that the centerline taxiway precludes this was wrong. Runway status lights minimize these errors but the FAA guessed wrong on which sites to place them. Meanwhile the north complex, which the FAA is pushing hard to change, is operating safely.

Several upgrade projects such as the Tom Bradley West expansion of the number of international gates and a new Central Utilities Plant to provide adequate power, air conditioning, and heating for LAX is in work along with fixes to baggage handling system.

Many more of projects, “green lighted” four years ago by the “Settlement Agreement,” remain stalled. The Consolidated Rental Car facility could dramatically improve LAX traveler experience by removing thousands of buses from the Central Terminal Area.

Real safety items such as repair of the upper CTA roadway in the also have not progressed either. The roadway expansion joints were deemed “failed” in a 2003 CalTrans report. This project has yet to be started (it is a footnote in the list of capital improvement projects).

Van Nuys – The creation of a FAA Federal Part 161 regulation request to limit aircraft at VNY is still in process. The Part 161 study by HMMH Company will justify rejection of all stage 2 aircraft. Bob Hope Airport had objected to any reduction of aircraft coming to Van Nuys in the past, but has softened its stance since its own Part 161 to ban all night-time flights was rejected by the FAA. Approval of a facilitator for a new VNY-Community Noise Roundtable was also approved.