Airport Needs

“LAX Can’t Do It Alone” (editorial, Oct. 16) makes reference to the population growth that is fueling a call for more airport capacity in the region. Missing are facts on exactly where the region’s growth is occurring. The Southern California Assn. of Governments has provided the answer. By 2020, L.A. County will add 2,430,900 residents, Riverside County will add 1,128,200 residents and San Bernardino will add 1,057,600 residents. However, Orange County, which is almost built out in terms of available land, will grow by only 385,000 residents. By 2020, San Bernardino and Riverside counties combined will be almost twice the size of Orange County.

The increase of only 385,000 residents in Orange County is hardly justification for imposing the traffic, pollution and noise of an additional 28-million annual-passenger airport on the communities of south and central Orange County. A 13% increase in Orange County’s population is a growth figure that readily can be accommodated by John Wayne Airport, without physical expansion. Planes in and out of JWA currently fly with 40% of their seats vacant, due in part to archaic passenger limits that expire in 2005.

LEONARD KRANSER

Dana Point