"San Luis Obispo, Calif., to Consider Extending Airport Runway"

Thursday, February 6, 2003

San Luis Obispo, Calif., to Consider Extending Airport Runway
The San Luis Obispo (CA) Tribune


The county will examine extending San Luis Obispo's airport runway an
additional 700 feet to accommodate regional jets, which airline officials
say they need to take off and land full jets. 

County consultants also will look into making Paso Robles airport, which
already has a runway 6,000 feet long, the county's primary facility if it's
not feasible to lengthen the runway in San Luis Obispo. 

The Council of Governments, which includes all five county supervisors and
council members from the seven cities, voted unanimously Wednesday to study
the proposals in an upcoming master plan update for the airport in San Luis
Obispo.

All seemed amenable to the possible extension. The planning and
environmental process is expected to begin this spring. 

The officials' vote came after hearing reports that all of the airlines
serving the county are converting to regional jets. SkyWest, flying as
United Express, and American Eagle have made the change elsewhere. America
West already has two regional jet flights a day to Phoenix and the longer
runway would allow them to fly with a full passenger load. 

Klaasje Nairne, San Luis Obispo's airport manager, told the panel the
airport already owns the property needed to extend the runway and has the
money to do it from the Federal Aviation Administration and ticket taxes.
Completing the whole process, including rerouting Santa Fe Road, could take
between three and four years. 

Sean Goodwin, American Eagle's western regional manager, said his company
already has replaced its turbo props with regional jets in all its
California service areas except Monterey and San Luis Obispo. The regional
jets are expected to be in Monterey within a few months, he said. 

San Luis Obispo would be served by a 44-passenger Embraer regional jet, he
added, and American would continue to operate its maintenance base in San
Luis Obispo. 

"We're not likely to keep operating here," he said, "if the runway isn't
made longer." A recent county-financed study on regional jets indicates that
SkyWest, which also is converting to the larger planes, also may not
continue service in San Luis Obispo if the runway isn't longer. 

North County Supervisors Harry Ovitt and Mike Ryan, along with several other
North County residents, told the panel not to discount Paso Robles in the
future. Airline officials, however, have maintained there isn't enough of a
market there now to warrant moving operations. 

Chuck Miller of Atascadero cited the long runway and new terminal already in
Paso Robles. 

"I think you need to look at Paso Robles as the future of transportation for
the county," Miller said. "We can't afford to let the airlines go out of the
county to Santa Maria or Santa Barbara." But Supervisor Peg Pinard said it
will be the airlines that decide where they'll go, not the county. "`Build
it and they will come' doesn't work in the airlines industry," she said. 

Supervisor Katcho Achadjian, who lives near the San Luis airport, said he's
heard concerns about more noise and fears that that the jets will lead to
even bigger planes such as 737s. The turbo props have awakened him as early
as 5 a.m.

Nairne said the regional jets don't seem as loud as the turbo props. She
also said the airport could never accommodate bigger jets without first
moving the terminal, tower and other necessary facilities.


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