Quick Takeoff Envisioned for Flights at Point Mugu : Aviation: Temporary passenger terminals would speed launch of commuter service, and freight shipments could begin almost immediately, if commercial use of airstrip is approved, report says.

Commuter airline service could be launched more quickly and cheaply at Point Mugu by building interim passenger terminals for about $11 million, rather than spending $142 million upfront on permanent facilities, a new report concludes.

The inch-thick, final feasibility study, to be reviewed Thursday by the Point Mugu Regional Airport Authority, also concludes that overnight package deliveries could begin almost immediately after formal approval of a joint-use proposal for the military airstrip from the Navy and Department of Defense.

“It’s up to the Navy, but we think it’s definitely feasible,” said Michael Armstrong, a senior aviation planner with the Southern California Assn. of Governments, which oversees regional transportation issues.

Armstrong said that besides passenger service, the 11,000-foot runway at the Point Mugu Navy base could become a regional hub for the commercial freight industry.

Executives from both FedEx and United Parcel Service--two of the largest overnight shipping companies in the world--have indicated a willingness to use the facility as soon as possible, Armstrong and others said.

“All you need is a joint-use agreement and a way to get the trucks to the planes,” Armstrong said Monday. An agreement and the necessary environmental studies could be completed by the end of 1997.

“UPS trucks its Ventura County cargo to Burbank or LAX, and they fly Santa Barbara cargo to Ontario,” said Armstrong, recounting his conversation with UPS executives. “What they would do at Point Mugu is fly directly to their Midwest sorting hubs in Louisville and Memphis.”

Members of the Point Mugu Regional Airport Authority--a panel made up of elected officials from the cities of Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Ventura, as well as Ventura County--have not yet reviewed the final feasibility study.

But several members of the authority board said Monday that temporary structures would shorten the time it takes to open the airport to public use.

“I would like to see us start with the commercial traffic and then build up into a passenger terminal,” said Ventura Councilman Jack Tingstrom, who represents the city on the authority.

“I’m really excited about it if we can overcome all the environmental things and the noise concerns,” he said. “There’s a lot of room to grow.”

The final feasibility study recommends that the Point Mugu Regional Airport Authority forgo attempting to build a permanent terminal for the expected 2 million passengers the facility could attract within 10 years.

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Instead, the report recommends that temporary, bare-bones quarters be erected to get the commercial venture off the ground. Once the airport begins bringing in revenue, permanent facilities could be built, planners say.

The analysis, which includes three recommended sites for the future terminal, is the latest study performed relating to opening the military base to commercial airline traffic.

Several other key issues must be resolved before the process can continue, however.

Rod Murphy, the Ventura County airports administrator who is providing consulting services for the authority, said the next step is signing a formal agreement with the Navy and the Department of Defense.

Once that agreement is signed, an airport master plan would be drawn up and the authority would apply to the Federal Aviation Administration for airport-improvement funds.

After initial money is raised for planning and design work, the appropriate environmental reviews would need to be conducted, Murphy said.

“As long as we can stay on schedule and get through some of our preliminary work, we’ll be OK,” he said.

Murphy said he met with executives from FedEx last week, and that company officials want to open a regional hub somewhere in Ventura or Santa Barbara counties by December, 1997.

“That would begin the process of having joint-use activity,” he said. “There would be landing fees involved, ramp fees and storage fees. It would start the process of generating revenue for the authority.”

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County Supervisor Frank Schillo, who serves as chairman of the authority board, said he hopes to have an agreement signed before the end of this year.

After Point Mugu survived federal base-closing commission recommendations this summer, Schillo asked Navy officials whether they were still interested in sharing the runway.

“They said they were still very interested,” said Schillo, who added that the naming of a new commander has slowed the process. “I’m hoping we can do it as soon as we get a meeting together.”