Hearing on
Meeting Future Aviation Capacity Needs in Southern California
TABLE OF CONTENTS(Click on Section)
To discuss future aviation capacity needs in Southern California and possible regional solutions.
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is the largest council of government association in the United States and functions as the Metropolitan Planning Organization for six counties: Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and Imperial. The region encompasses a population exceeding 15 million persons in an area of more than 38,000 square miles.
As the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization, SCAG is mandated by the Federal government to research and draw up plans for transportation, growth management, hazardous waste management, and air quality. Additional mandates exist at the state level.
The SCAG Region has 57 public use airports, including six established commercial service airports, 45 general aviation, two recently closed military air bases (one certified as a commercial service airport), two commuter airports, and two joint-use facilities.
SCAG Regional Aviation Plan Brochure, April 2004
The Region’s airports taken together make Southern California the busiest of all regions in the country in terms of total aircraft operations. Almost 79 million annual passengers (MAP) were served in the Region in 2003, almost double the number served in 1980. The level of air passenger demand is forecast to double again before 2030.
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is a system of four airports owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles (Los Angeles International, Ontario International, Van Nuys and Palmdale Regional). The largest of the four airports is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). LAX is the world's fifth busiest passenger airport and sixth in air cargo tonnage handled. It is also the busiest airport within the SCAG Region. In 2004, more than 60 million people traveled through LAX. That same year, the airport handled about 70 percent of the passengers, 75 percent of the air cargo, and 95 percent of the international passengers and cargo traffic in the five-county Southern California area (namely: Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura Counties.) After the tragic events of 9/11, the number of operations at LAX dropped. The level of operations has returned slowly, but is still not back to pre-9/11 levels. Burbank, Long Beach and Ontario Airports have all seen increases in their level of operations since 9/11.
LAWA, local political leaders and SCAG have assumed an existing maximum practical capacity at LAX of 78 million annual passengers (MAP). In 2004 (latest data available), passenger activity at LAX was 57.8 MAP. Local leaders have determined that there should be no airport improvements at LAX that would increase capacity beyond that point. According to the 2010 FAA Terminal Area Forecast (TAF), the unconstrained demand at LAX would be 71.2 MAP. Furthermore, in 2015 and 2020, unconstrained demand is forecast to be 82.6 MAP and 96.6 MAP respectively. Delays of approximately 10 minutes per operation would exist at the 82.6 MAP level. These would grow to greater than 20 minutes per operation at the 96.6 MAP level. While a 20-minute delay per operation is not acceptable, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) believes that increasing LAX to 86.5 MAP would be possible to relieve some of the basin’s capacity constraints.
The Los Angeles Basin has sufficient airport capacity to meet the current demand. However, the SCAG predicts that passenger demand in the region will more than double, to 170 million passengers and air cargo will more than triple, to 8.7 million tons in 2030. While LAX has not reached its maximum practical capacity, it will by the year 2013. Additionally, Long Beach Airport and John Wayne Airport are identified as needing additional capacity in 2013 and 2020 respectively.
When an area reaches its maximum capacity the results are not pretty: traffic jams, long passenger check-in and security lines, crowded terminals, delayed flights, lost baggage, impacts to runway safety, overall increased demand on the air transportation system, and associated costs to airports, passengers, and air carriers. Unlike other major metropolitan areas in the country, many of which are in “air capacity crisis-mode”, the Southern California/Los Angeles Basin transportation and governmental authorities have time to plan and provide for additional capacity. Regional planning to address capacity demand includes: safety projects at LAX, alternative regional airport capacity, FAA airspace redesign efforts for the Southern California area, and intermodal transportation options.
SAFETY PROJECTS AT LAX
LAX Airport Master Plan Update:
On May 25, 2005, the FAA issued its Record of Decision (ROD) for development proposed in the LAX Master Plan. The LAX Master Plan’s goal is to accommodate the forecast of passengers and cargo at an acceptable level of service while increasing airport safety and security. FAA selected Alternative D with one modification. The FAA took no action on a collateral development project known as LAX North Side. Alternative D was developed to accommodate approximately the same number of passengers that would be accommodated should no action be taken at all. Alternative D would respond to future demand for air transportation by encouraging, but not requiring, other airports in the Los Angeles basin to increase capacity to make up for the limitations of LAX. Major Development Proposed Under Alternative D:
The City of Los Angeles may proceed with Alternative D, with the exception of the collateral development proposal that is neither aviation nor airport-support related. The collateral development proposal, referred to as “LAX North Side,” was proposed by LAWA to contain a mix of commercial uses. FAA will undertake further environmental review of LAX North Side after the sponsor more clearly defines the proposal and provides FAA with consistent planning assumptions for this area.
The Los Angeles City Council’s approval of Alternative D also included an implementation plan that subjects projects in Alternative D to varying amounts of additional review. This requirement for additional review has been commonly referred to as “green lighted” and “yellow lighted” approval of projects. Examples of “green lighted” projects include the south airfield improvements, the renovation of the international terminal, and the Intermodal Transportation Center. Examples of “yellow lighted” projects are the Ground Transportation Center and changes to the Central Terminal Area. Any information generated as a part of these local project-level approvals of specific components of Alternative D will be assessed to determine its impact on the Final EIS, and will be addressed, as necessary, consistent with FAA’s obligations under NEPA. LAWA is in the beginning stages of instituting their review of the “yellow-lighted” projects.
On January 18, 2006, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to approve a litigation settlement agreement for the LAX Master Plan. The Cities of El Segundo, Inglewood, and Culver City, Los Angeles County and the Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion have agreed to drop their lawsuits against the LAX Master Plan. The Settlement Agreement requires LAWA to reduce the number of aircraft gates at LAX at a rate of two gates per year starting in 2010 until the airport has 153 gates or less. This is the number of gates envisioned by FAA in its May 2005 ROD. The Agreement also creates a community based planning process to revisit and possibly replace controversial projects, the so-called “yellow-light” projects, in the approved LAX Master Plan. The planning may identify more locally acceptable alternate projects that increase airport efficiency and mitigate traffic, noise and pollution. The Agreement also identifies funding for mitigation of impacts to the surrounding communities.
The FAA reviewed the Settlement Agreement and the Agreement appears largely consistent with federal law and the May 2005 ROD. However, there are a few parts of the Agreement that the FAA needs additional information on, particularly areas concerning the permissible use of airport revenues to fund certain actions under the Agreement. The FAA has advised LAWA of this situation and is awaiting further details.
South Airfield Runway Relocation Project at LAX:
The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the South Airfield Runway Relocation project was released in January 2005 and the Record of Decision (ROD) was finalized and issued May 20, 2005. The project will relocate Runway 7R/25L approximately 55 feet south and construct a new center taxiway. The intent of the project is to improve safety by reducing runway incursions.
Construction bids for this project were opened in August 2005 and LAWA completed a project-specific Environmental Impact Report (EIR) as required by the California Environmental Quality Act. The Notice-to-Proceed for the project was issued on March 1, 2006. The existing Runway 7R/25L will be closed permanently on July 29, 2006. The projected date for opening the new runway is March 25, 2007. At that point, the new center taxiway will be constructed between runways 7R/25L and 7L/25R. Construction for the taxiway is scheduled to occur between March 27, 2007 and June 14, 2008.
Addressing Runway Incursions at LAX:
One of the highest safety priority issues for the FAA is the elimination of runway incursions. At the LAX airport, significant attention has been placed on this matter. In summary, runway incursions at LAX are as follows:
* Category D: Little or no chance of collision but meets the definition of a runway incursion
Category C: Separation decreases but there is ample time and distance to avoid a potential collision.
Category B: Separation decreases and there is a significant potential for collision.
Category A: Separation decreases and participants take extreme action to narrowly avoid a collision, or the event results in a collision.
Over the past several years, LAWA and the FAA Runway Safety Office have identified and installed or revised new airfield lighting, marking, and taxiway changes. FAA believes that the only infrastructure improvement remaining is the Runway 7R/25L relocation and construction of the new center taxiway. LAWA and the FAA Runway Safety Office are continuing airline and pilot education as a means to reduce runway incursion risk.
In August 2005, the FAA provided $38.3 million to LAWA to begin design and construction of the new taxiway project. In February 2006, an additional $29.5 million in Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds was provided to relocate Runway 7R/25L, a prerequisite for building the center taxiway.
In November 2005, the FAA announced plans to install new technology, Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X), at 15 major airports, including LAX. ASDE-X integrates data from radar, transponders and other sources, to create a continuously updated map of airport surface operations. This technology, which will cost about $8.5 million to install at each airport, will help air traffic controllers to better detect and prevent potential collisions.
REGIONAL AVIATION PLANNING
As was noted in the FAA’s 2004 study entitled “Capacity Needs in the National Airspace System”, the Los Angeles basin has sufficient capacity to meet the current demand. However, in 2013 and 2020, Long Beach and John Wayne airports are identified as needing additional capacity. The FAA is in the process of updating this study to reflect actions taken by airport sponsors to meet future capacity needs in their areas.
In major metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, the federally-recognized Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is eligible to receive AIP grant funds for Metropolitan Airport System Planning studies. The SCAG is the MPO for the Los Angeles region. Since 1982, FAA has awarded SCAG thirty-one AIP grants totaling over $13.5 million to analyze regional aviation needs and recommend regional solutions. In recent years, SCAG has used a high percentage of the AIP funds to develop the aviation component of the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).
According to SCAG, a decentralized plan for allocation of aviation demand is the solution for meeting future aviation demand. Additionally, it is SCAG’s position that most future airport growth should be accommodated at airports other than LAX. SCAG supports a decentralized airport system that maximizes use in the Inland Empire and North Los Angeles County, including former military air bases and joint use facilities. SCAG believes airport development should be focused on the underutilized airports rather than expanding existing urban airports. It is a shared desire of the regional planners to limit the social and/or environmental impacts of additional development at LAX, while assuring the airport’s ability to accommodate existing demand in a safe and environmentally sound manner.
LAWA has indicated a desire to create a regional aviation authority that extends beyond the current LAWA structure (which includes LAX, Ontario International, Van Nuys and Palmdale airports). To date, LAWA has not defined what this new structure would look like.
ALTERNATIVE AIRPORT CAPACITY
According to the FAA, there are ten (10) alternative airports in the Southern California/Los Angeles Basin area:
Key to the SCAG plan is that Ontario International Airport must grow significantly and new commercial service must be established and grown at former military and/or existing military-civil joint use airports such as Palmdale, Riverside and San Bernardino. The Regional Aviation Plan attempts to distribute long haul and international service to suburban airports, particularly Palmdale. With international service established at Palmdale and Ontario airports, the region would have a balanced system of three international airports, similar to the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City Region. However, still to be addressed are issues surrounding how to get passengers to go to the suburban airports, and how passengers will travel to and from the airports.
OTHER ISSUES
Airspace Redesign:
The Southern California Redesign Project focuses on redesigning airspace surrounding LAX by transferring the responsibility for managing segments of airspace from the Los Angeles center to the Southern California terminal facility. The goal is to improve the flow of traffic to LAX, San Diego International Airport, and other airports in the area. According to the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT OIG), the project slipped from a 2002 target date to 2010. Problems in developing new procedures and changes in project scope contributed to the delays.
The Bay to Basin Redesign Project addresses congestion and airspace limitations between the Los Angeles Basin and the San Francisco Bay in California. The DOT OIG indicated that this project has also slipped; from a 2003 target date to 2008. Delays are due to, among other things, problems developing new procedures, acquiring new equipment, and changes to project scope.
Intermodalism:
Regional and State planners are also looking at ground access alternatives, including Magnetic Levitation (MAGLEV) high speed rail technology. The Regional Aviation Plan incorporates the proposed MAGLEV system, which will strategically connect the major airports and augment a balanced distribution of aviation demand and services in the region. This will require close coordination between the Regional Airport Consortium and the MAGLEV Joint Powers Authority to ensure system integration.
WITNESSES
PANEL I
Mr. William C. Withycombe
Regional Administrator
Western-Pacific Region
Federal Aviation Administration
Mr. Will Kempton
Director
California Department of Transportation
Mr. Mark Pisano
Executive Director
Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)
Ms. Lydia Kennard
Executive Director
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA)