raffy
Sep 30, 01, 12:57 pm
San Francisco International Airport General Manager John Martin has told staff members that he wants to put the brakes on the big $3 billion-plus runway expansion program.
That's not to say they're ready to call it quits. But with airlines cutting flights left and right, airport brass fear that the big environmental impact report on the proposed runways -- due out next spring -- could wind up being riddled with inaccurate assumptions about air traffic.
Which would leave the door wide open for runway opponents to challenge the report.
"So the question is, 'Are we spending money on studies that will actually be invalid when they're done?' " says one airport staff member who attended the meetings.
For example, United Airlines, one of the biggest backers of the new runway plan, has cut service 25 percent at SFO, or between 40 and 50 flights a day.
"The impetus for the runway expansion was demand on our field, and that demand is not there today," the insider says.
Airport officials still want to look at new runway designs -- but they fear that anything more right now could be a waste of time.
As for when the airport plans might proceed, no one really knows. One thing is for sure, though: The ever-optimistic Mayor Willie Brown wants to move ahead.
"We're going to need a place for those F-16 fighter planes to take off and land -- fast -- because when they go up, they've got to go up now," Willie said.
We'll see whether he still feels the same way after Martin briefs him tomorrow on the airport's new world.
And that world isn't a pretty one. SFO is on course to lose at least $70 million this fiscal year, and officials have dropped plans for a $210 million renovation of the old international terminal.
They'll also be telling both the Hyatt and the Hilton that the competition for a new airport hotel has been put on ice for at least five months.
Source: SF Chronicle
That's not to say they're ready to call it quits. But with airlines cutting flights left and right, airport brass fear that the big environmental impact report on the proposed runways -- due out next spring -- could wind up being riddled with inaccurate assumptions about air traffic.
Which would leave the door wide open for runway opponents to challenge the report.
"So the question is, 'Are we spending money on studies that will actually be invalid when they're done?' " says one airport staff member who attended the meetings.
For example, United Airlines, one of the biggest backers of the new runway plan, has cut service 25 percent at SFO, or between 40 and 50 flights a day.
"The impetus for the runway expansion was demand on our field, and that demand is not there today," the insider says.
Airport officials still want to look at new runway designs -- but they fear that anything more right now could be a waste of time.
As for when the airport plans might proceed, no one really knows. One thing is for sure, though: The ever-optimistic Mayor Willie Brown wants to move ahead.
"We're going to need a place for those F-16 fighter planes to take off and land -- fast -- because when they go up, they've got to go up now," Willie said.
We'll see whether he still feels the same way after Martin briefs him tomorrow on the airport's new world.
And that world isn't a pretty one. SFO is on course to lose at least $70 million this fiscal year, and officials have dropped plans for a $210 million renovation of the old international terminal.
They'll also be telling both the Hyatt and the Hilton that the competition for a new airport hotel has been put on ice for at least five months.
Source: SF Chronicle