REPORT SOUGHT ON AIRPORT PLANS.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

With the promise of making Palmdale Airport a regional hub, a Los Angeles city official called Wednesday for development of specific plans and a budget to develop the facility.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter said she wants the Department of Airports to report in six months with a timeline, budget and plans to begin an environmental review at Palmdale.

Under a proposal announced last week, Palmdale would be a hub airport serving the San Fernando and Antelope valleys with estimates of 4 million passengers a year by 2010 and 7 million by 2020.

``We need to see a real investment plan for Palmdale Airport that actually puts teeth in last week's announcement,'' said Galanter, who has pushed for developing the airport to ease congestion at Los Angeles International Airport in her district.

Los Angeles would provide Palmdale with $12 million in land easements to improve access to the airport as well as other improvements, such as a cargo ramp. LAX officials also will attempt to induce airlines to use the Palmdale Airport.

Galanter said LAX has spent millions of dollars on consultants to develop its master plan. ``Now that they have finally acknowledged the need to include our other regional airports, they need to put some substance behind their verbal commitment,'' Galanter said.

She also noted last week's announcement to spend $112 million to beautify LAX.

``We we can commit that to beautification efforts at LAX, certainly we can come up with a serious plan that includes significant funds to take care of our region's need for more airports.''

Galanter said the need to move ahead with Palmdale is particularly acute because of the controversy surrounding the expansion of LAX as well as problems with Burbank Airport expansion and use of the closed El Toro military base for commercial traffic.