Palmdale Airport primes for 21st century takeoff; increasing congestion gives outlying field long-term lure.

Palmdale Airport primes for 21st century takeoff

Increasing congestion gives outlying field long-term lure

Someday it could be an airport. Right now it's just scrub and sand and a gleam in the eye of the Los Angeles Department of Airports.

Palmdale Airport is a vision for the future, a time when population growth in the northern valleys and gridlock in the city will force the building of a major airport at the site. The city began purchasing land in 1970 and by 1983 had acquired 99 percent of the 17,750-acre site.

Currently only one commercial airline stops there: American West Airlines recently inaugurated four flights a day to its hub in Las Vegas. The remaining traffic belongs to the U.S Air Force, which owns an adjoining 6,000-acre installation known as "Plant 42."

On-site manufacturing facilities belonging to Lockheed, Rockwell and Northrop corporations turn out military aircraft. The civilian side of Palmdale airport consists of a terminal building and taxiways, but no runways.

The Air Force uses Palmdale for production flight testing, taxi tests and pilot proficiency training. A joint-use agreement with the airport department allows the shared use of Plant 42's two runways for up to 200 flights a day or a total of 400 takeoffs and landings.

"The 400 operations appear to be sufficient capacity to satisfy the needs of the L.A. Department of Airports up till 2015," said LTC Mario Cafiero, commander of Plant 42. "After that it's anyone's best guess."

The military has conducted as many as 300 flight operations a day at Plant 42 but Cafiero insists the facility could still handle commercial traffic.

"When we get close to the 400 limit we'll undoubtedly see some conflicts," he said. "The biggest impact would be in terms of coordination and there would be some scheduling concerns." The joint use agreement allows the Air Force to retain priority for first flights and taxi tests.

The airport department is hoping to recruit more airlines to fly out of Palmdale, but is caught in the vicious circle of "no airlines equals no passengers equals no airlines."

America West moved four flights to Palmdale even though there was no traffic data to support such a move, according to Peter Otradovec, the airline's vice president of planning. Demographic data indicating that Palmdale was the fastest-growing community in the nation was the deciding factor, he noted.

But America West is not only targeting passengers who live in the Antelope Valley. "As a result of the congestion at LAX there are delays, and it's difficult for the customer to access the airport on the land side," said Otradovec. "To the extent that we can give passengers alternatives then everybody benefits."

Otradovec must overcome passengers' instinctive orientation toward Los Angeles International Airport. `The mountains are a psychological barrier," said Clifton Moore, executive director of the Department of Airports. "It's not as attractive when you have to drive. But people do it every day from dowton Washington D.C to Dulles [airport]. That's as far as from Sylmar to Palmdale. Why don't people in the San Fernando Valley go out to Palmdale?"

Because, he admitted, getting out of town is still too easy. Los Angeles International currently handles 45 million passengers annually and projections put the figure at 65 million by the turn of the century. That, said Moore, is the saturation point.

"When you have a hard time getting in and out of there, you'll start looking at alternatives and [Palmdale] is about the only alternative we know about," said Moore. Ontario airport has an air quality limit of 12 million passengers and has about 7 1/2 to go, while Burbank is limited by size and noise contours. So Palmdale is all that's left.

Other factors involved in the choice of Palmdale as the new regional airport were land availability, a negligible dislocation of homes and businesses, few airspace conflicts, low potential for major air and noise pollution, existing ground access, and sufficient community and institutional support for the site.

"Our long range goal is to make it a major airfield," said Moore. "But that depends on the population increase out there and the connection of that valley by rail to the San Fernando Valley and the central part of the city."

The Anaheim to Las Vegas high-speed train would likely play a part in that scenario, but there is currently no plan for that train to stop in Palmdale. "My train only goes from Las Vegas to Anaheim," said Paul Taylor, executive director of the California Nevada Superspeed Train Commission. "The franchisee may have a requirement to go to Palmdale if Los Angeles is connected to Palmdale by someone else."

The Department of Airports has joined with the county transportation committee to study the feasibility of a rail connection to Palmdale, and is hoping to interest a private company in running it.

Meanwhile Palmdale airport costs the city of Los Angeles just under $1 million annually. While rent from fruit farming, income from pistachio groves and small industrial facilities on the site nets the city approximately half a million dollars each year, it costs $1,131,000 including interest on the purchase price, to keep the land in city hands.

"We have subsidized it to keep it going in the long-term interest to be sure it's there and available for development," said Moore. By all accounts, that development isn't likely to happen for at least another 20 years.

PHOTO : Airport: Airline enters market