VNY: Now Ready for Takeoff

When you think of the Van Nuys Airport, what pops to mind? You likely associate it with noise. You might think it’s a domain of hobbyists, what with all those propeller planes. You may consider it kind of small and a tad industrial. About as glamorous as a Mama June trip to Wal-Mart. I confess: That’s how I thought of it. As I drove by it all these years, I once or twice wondered why a general aviation airport even needs to exist right in the middle of the San Fernando Valley, creating a big obstruction you must drive around. But as with many things in life, the more you learn, the more you know, which is something Yogi Berra apparently never said but should have. In recent months I’ve learned that the airport is important. Vitally so. An economic impact study four months ago concluded the airport produced $2 billion worth of activity in 2015 while supporting nearly 10,500 jobs. That makes the airport almost as big a job creator as the largest company hereabouts, the Walt Disney Co., which reported more than 11,500 local employees last September when we compiled our list of largest private-sector employers in the Valley area. And as long as I’m looking at that list, for comparison’s sake I’ll point out that the second biggest local private-sector employer is Providence Health and Services Southern California, which had an estimated 6,400 employees in the Valley area. Another big one: Amgen Inc. has 5,300 workers in Thousand Oaks. So that means the Van Nuys Airport supports twice as many jobs as Amgen employs directly. Combine that with the hundreds of flights from the airport each day and the fact that there are some 100 airport-dependent businesses there, and it’s easy to see that the Van Nuys Airport is not small at all. In fact, if we were to make up a list of the most vital economic assets in the entire Valley area, you could argue that it is No. 1 or No. 2 on that list. But here’s what is new and different: The airport is poised to become even bigger and more important. That’s because corporate jets are growing in stature at the airport, as you can see in the special report in this issue. The rise of corporate jets makes sense. Not only is the economy recovering, but more airline companies are offering more ways for flights on corporate jets to be more accessible and affordable for typical companies and even well-to-do individuals. Corporate jets are no longer the exclusive domain of Fortune 500 companies. For an executive of a sizeable company, it suddenly might make sense to fly on a corporate jet. Yes, private flights still cost much more than commercial flights, but that exec will be able to get in two or even three West Coast meetings in one day and be home in time for dinner. That’s far more time-effective than making that exec, who’s paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year or more, stand in line to get a TSA patdown and later check into a hotel. Oh, sure, there’ll still be hobbyists with their propeller planes flying from Van Nuys, but their proportion is predicted to shrink relative to corporate jets. What’s more, Van Nuys is likely to gain market share as the Santa Monica Airport moves to its closure in 11 years. It’s not outrageous to think that some businesses may consider moving to the Valley to be close to the Van Nuys Airport. And OK, so the Van Nuys Airport, known as VNY, still has a bit of an industrial feel and lacks glamour. But it does have history. And, you know, some of that history is pretty glamorous at that, thanks to its association with Hollywood. Throughout its long life – Van Nuys opened in 1928 only a couple months after the opening of the airport that would become known as LAX – Van Nuys has been a favorite of celebrities. The likes of Cecil B. DeMille and Howard Hughes used the airport in its early days, according to the airport’s website. Later, the Rat Pack and similar celebrities liked to fly out of there on Fridays to perform in Las Vegas over the weekend. Moreover, the airport has long been a movie production site. The final scene of “Casablanca” was shot there. Plenty of filming still occurs there today. Even Marilyn Monroe has a connection, albeit a weak one, to the airport. She was photographed as a young, pre-blonde woman working at an aircraft assembly plant at or near the airport. The noise? Well, the airport has taken steps to minimize it. But yes, there’ll still be noise. No way to avoid it. But for such an important asset, for all that the airport gives us and promises to offer in the future, we need to tolerate something bad. Charles Crumpley is editor and publisher of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].