Airport Commission To Introduce Bogus "LA" Airport Names
Jan 3, 2007, 10:20 am
#1
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Airport Commission To Introduce Bogus "LA" Airport Names
The city's Airport Commission has voted to rename Ontario Airport to "LA/Ontario Airport," and Palmdale Airport to "LA/Palmdale Airport."
Officials hope that providing the facilities with a well-known geographic hook will draw travelers from outside the state and help take pressure off aging Los Angeles International Airport.
"When talking to airlines, I always ask the question, 'Which would you prefer to serve, Ontario International Airport or LA/Ontario International Airport?' " said Paul Haney, deputy executive director of airports and security for the city's airport agency. "They never hesitate. They always say, 'LA/Ontario International Airport.' "
Of course, each of these airports is more than 50 miles from Los Angeles. Palmdale Airport is so far out in the desert that it's unable to attract any scheduled air service.
This surpasses the previous level of bogosity at LAX Airport, where street signs such as "Nash St/Airport" and "Century Bl East - LAX OK" continue to dump visitors onto obscure side streets in places such as Inglewood.
Now, we on FT will get questions like, "I booked our family's Disneyland vacation via LA Palmdale Airport. How much is the cab fare?" and, "Do they rent beach chairs at LA Ontario Airport?"
Officials hope that providing the facilities with a well-known geographic hook will draw travelers from outside the state and help take pressure off aging Los Angeles International Airport.
"When talking to airlines, I always ask the question, 'Which would you prefer to serve, Ontario International Airport or LA/Ontario International Airport?' " said Paul Haney, deputy executive director of airports and security for the city's airport agency. "They never hesitate. They always say, 'LA/Ontario International Airport.' "
Of course, each of these airports is more than 50 miles from Los Angeles. Palmdale Airport is so far out in the desert that it's unable to attract any scheduled air service.
This surpasses the previous level of bogosity at LAX Airport, where street signs such as "Nash St/Airport" and "Century Bl East - LAX OK" continue to dump visitors onto obscure side streets in places such as Inglewood.
Now, we on FT will get questions like, "I booked our family's Disneyland vacation via LA Palmdale Airport. How much is the cab fare?" and, "Do they rent beach chairs at LA Ontario Airport?"
Jan 3, 2007, 11:22 am
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You'd better hope that they succeed. If they don't, LAX has to close 6 gates in 2010 and 2 gates per year thereafter, as part of the settlement with the cities around LAX. One way or another, some of the existing airline traffic at LAX will be diverted to the other airports, even if they are 50 miles away.
Jan 3, 2007, 12:30 pm
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Jan 3, 2007, 4:03 pm
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Jan 3, 2007, 6:45 pm
#6
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You'd better hope that they succeed. If they don't, LAX has to close 6 gates in 2010 and 2 gates per year thereafter, as part of the settlement with the cities around LAX. One way or another, some of the existing airline traffic at LAX will be diverted to the other airports, even if they are 50 miles away.
Jan 3, 2007, 7:17 pm
#7
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The bottom line of the settlement is that LAX is capped at 75 million pax per year, no matter what (or a lot more money has to be ponied up). So something has to be done in the next decade (and so far, changing airport names is it).
Jan 4, 2007, 1:14 pm
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i understand the general high desert area is targeted for LA housing expansion heading for 3M population or so. Downtown LA is about 2 hours by light rail from Palmdale - no more time than some people spend on Hwy 91.
How about "LA Roy Rogers Palmdale/Lancaster/Victorville/Apple Valley International Airport?"
Jan 5, 2007, 2:33 am
#10
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While it's easy to criticize the notion of Palmdale or Ontario being an "LA" airport, let's remember that Narita is 55 minutes by express train or 90+ minutes by bus from Downtown Tokyo and London Gatwick is 30 minutes by Express train (+some time by tube) to get to the center of London.
When LA finally gets high-speed rail up and running (which is now looking like 2010-2014 or so), the southern sections include links to BOTH Palmdale and Ontario airports. While current light rail takes about 2 hours to Lancaster and an hour to Ontario near the respective airports, HSR ought to have those number down to 70 minutes and 35 minutes respectively. Frankly, if I'm coming to LA from out of town for business, I'd much rather have an airport to downtown experience...rather than fight the car rentals of LAX and then the Santa Monica Fwy.
When LA finally gets high-speed rail up and running (which is now looking like 2010-2014 or so), the southern sections include links to BOTH Palmdale and Ontario airports. While current light rail takes about 2 hours to Lancaster and an hour to Ontario near the respective airports, HSR ought to have those number down to 70 minutes and 35 minutes respectively. Frankly, if I'm coming to LA from out of town for business, I'd much rather have an airport to downtown experience...rather than fight the car rentals of LAX and then the Santa Monica Fwy.
Jan 5, 2007, 2:53 am
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I have to admit that I had a good laugh when I read about the "LA/Palmdale" airport in the first post. I didn't know about the high-speed rail plans though, considering these it does make sense IMHO.
Jan 5, 2007, 3:06 am
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The LA airports are all a bit of a nightmare. As long as you do not book a flight into LAX long haul and then a "domestic" from another airport, then it should be ok. However, Glendale Burbank is not exactly the safest airport in the world, but that is what the politicians want (or at least what they have got as the result of their actions, which I assume were highly informed and considered....
)Happy landings
Jan 5, 2007, 2:32 pm
#13
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Heck, I used to live not even one mile NW of Ontario's main runway back in 1968-72 - I used to walk or ride my bike to the air museum and ANG base that was there - those were the days, let me tell ya.
I guess the thing to do is buy stock in rental car companies or shuttle companies that are specific to ONLY the LA area, because business will be picking up for them, if things go this way. I'd even go so far as to look into Limo and Helo shuttle services.
'LA/Palmdale'.......... has ALL the makings of a Capital One commercial, one where the guy doesn't have the miles he needs, so they have to take a cropduster into somewhere......... Fly into Palmdale, walk thru the desert to LA, surrounded by snakes and lizards, and UFO aircraft......
I guess the thing to do is buy stock in rental car companies or shuttle companies that are specific to ONLY the LA area, because business will be picking up for them, if things go this way. I'd even go so far as to look into Limo and Helo shuttle services.
'LA/Palmdale'.......... has ALL the makings of a Capital One commercial, one where the guy doesn't have the miles he needs, so they have to take a cropduster into somewhere......... Fly into Palmdale, walk thru the desert to LA, surrounded by snakes and lizards, and UFO aircraft......
