Commentary

One of the most important questions facing the San Fernando Valley and the entire Los Angeles metropolitan area is how to accommodate the increased demand for air travel while avoiding the political and logistical problems associated with expanding airports that are already unpopular with the neighbors. I suggest that the best solution lies in Palmdale, where far-sighted planners bought up land decades ago for a future international airport that has thus far languished due to inattention. We all know that demand for regional air traffic will increase over the next few decades. If we do not increase our airport capacity to handle that demand, the Los Angeles County area will miss out on a vast amount of economic growth and the jobs and prosperity that come with it. Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan certainly understands that. The mayor has proposed expanding Los Angeles International Airport, at a price tag estimated in the neighborhood of $12 billion. Last year, Mayor Riordan went to Washington to promote this plan, saying it was necessary to sustain Los Angeles’ economic growth into the 21st century. As I told Mayor Riordan, it all depends on how you frame the issue. If you limit the choices, saying one must either expand LAX to promote economic growth or reject expansion and plunge Southern California into a perpetual recession, then obviously the best answer is to allow expansion. But the mayor’s plan asks the wrong question. The better question is: What is the best way to meet the demands for air travel for the entire Southern California region, while getting the most out of the taxpayer dollar and avoiding many of the problems associated with expanding LAX? When looked at that way, the most obvious solution is to expand Palmdale Regional Airport. A little history is necessary first. In the 1960s, the Los Angeles Department of Airports (now Los Angeles World Airports) bought up 17,000 acres of desert land in the northeastern portion of Palmdale, about 60 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. The plan was to develop a huge Palmdale International Airport that would alleviate some of the air traffic at LAX and other regional airports into the next century. As an interim step, a Palmdale Regional Airport really just a small air terminal located at adjacent Air Force Plant 42 opened in the 1970s, using the Air Force’s runways. However, lack of demand forced its closure a few years later. An attempt was made to revive the airport in 1990, when America West and other carriers provided limited commuter service from Palmdale. But that effort also ended due to lack of passenger demand. At present, there is no airline service out of Palmdale, and the land purchased for $100 million remains largely vacant. Some attribute this failure to Palmdale’s distance from Los Angeles. They say this distance makes a Palmdale airport unfeasible for Los Angeles-area residents. That may be the perception, but it certainly is not the reality. To get to LAX from the San Fernando Valley, you must fight traffic on the San Diego (405) Freeway. As everyone knows, the 405 is crowded almost all the time through the Sepulveda Pass and West Los Angeles, but particularly so during the interminably long morning and afternoon-evening rush hours. It can easily take an hour or 90 minutes to get to LAX from the Valley. Once you finally get there, you must park in a long-term lot and take a shuttle to the terminal itself, unless you want to pay top dollar to park close by. From the time you leave your home to the time you reach the ticket counter, you have spent probably close to two hours in frustrating traffic and waiting around in a parking lot. In addition, you have the added expense of long-term parking. By contrast, a visit to Palmdale Regional Airport means a drive of about an hour on the relatively crowded Antelope Valley (14) Freeway. While the freeway is indeed congested northbound in the early evening and southbound in the early morning, the congestion is less than the level on the 405, and the rush hours are not nearly as long. In addition, once you get to Palmdale Airport you can park in a free lot that is located about 100 feet from the air terminal. It is quick and convenient. There are also some developments that will make travel to Palmdale more convenient. Caltrans is constructing an additional freeway lane in each direction. The Palmdale area is already served by Metrolink train service in Acton. And a state high-speed rail commission has been studying the possibility of routing a Bay Area-to-Los Angeles bullet train along the 14, which would make travel to Palmdale Airport even more convenient. In my opinion, there have been two major reasons why Palmdale airport has not been fully utilized. First is the fact that most of the flights that have been offered there are commuter flights to LAX. While these flights were a valuable attempt to serve the local Antelope Valley market, they did nothing to attract travelers from the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles, who (quite rightly) do not see the point of driving an hour to Palmdale to take a half-hour flight to LAX. However, I believe that if statewide, national and international flights were offered out of Palmdale, this would change. I know that many of my constituents in the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys would see the benefits of flying out of Palmdale rather than Burbank or LAX. Second is the fact that the city of Los Angeles has never really promoted Palmdale Airport with the kind of marketing resources necessary to make it work. If more Southern California residents were aware that flying out of Palmdale usually takes less time than flying out of LAX, they would use Palmdale. Another reason to develop Palmdale would be the relative lack of political opposition. Mayor Riordan’s plan to expand LAX has provoked impassioned opposition by neighbors. By contrast, the Palmdale political establishment is generally in support of expanding Palmdale to at least a regional airport, if not a full-blown international airport. As far as I can tell, so are the majority of citizens. An airport would also be a valuable source of local jobs for Antelope Valley residents, alleviating the need for many of them to clog the freeways every day to work in Los Angeles or the San Fernando Valley. Certainly, many hurdles exist to seeing a full-scale Palmdale Regional Airport. There are environmental issues, funding questions, and we must convince the major carriers of the economic viability of serving regional travelers out of Palmdale. But it won’t stand a chance unless the Los Angeles economic and political leaders get behind the effort to develop Palmdale airport. U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, represents the 25th Congressional District, which includes the Antelope, Santa Clarita and northern San Fernando valleys.