Calif. Departments Battle For Coverage of Airport

Jan. 19--ONTARIO -- The battle has begun in earnest.

Officials on both sides of the LA/Ontario International Airport dispute this week lashed out at each other for information they say is misleading and a misrepresentation.

Late Wednesday night, Ontario officials angrily responded to Los Angeles World Airport's strong criticism of their attempt to take back control of the struggling facility.

"Not only did you misrepresent Ontario's proposal," City Manager Chris Hughes said about LAWA's comments, but "you prematurely commented on terms of an airport transfer prior to allowing policy makers sufficient opportunity to explore negotiation terms and consider all options."

Until now, Ontario had engaged in private talks with officials of Los Angeles and LAWA, which operates ONT as well as Los Angeles International Airport, in an effort to regain control of ONT.

Things changed earlier this week when Ontario launched a media campaign to sway Los Angeles voters in their quest to regain control of ONT.

The campaign includes a website -- SetOntarioFree.com -- as well as a Facebook page and Twitter account. On Thursday, city officials announced they had also launched a YouTube channel.

Included in the efforts was poll results that city officials say shows a majority of voters support the transfer of ONT to Ontario from Los Angeles.

The poll results prompted LAWA Executive Director

Gina Marie Lindsey to fire back at Ontario, saying the agency does not intend to abandon its fiduciary responsibilities of ONT.

Lindsey said she rejected Ontario's $50 million deal to buy back the airport, referring to the offer's amount as a "foreclosure price."

She also referred to Ontario's poll as "misleading and an attempt to deflect the truth."

"LAWA expects to continue to focus its work on building ONT to its potential, rather than be distracted by repeated attempts to engage in a process to sell an airport that is not for sale," Lindsey said.

Ontario officials had refrained from disclosing their offer because they were in negotiations with LAWA.

Hughes publicly released a letter, addressed to Lindsey, outlining "numerous factual errors" she made in her statement.

Hughes said Ontario is not proposing to buy ONT, but is seeking a transfer of the operator from one public agency to another.

In its negotiations with LAWA, Ontario said they have offered Los Angeles officials a "comprehensive financial package," which assumes all debts and financial obligations of the airport.

The package included a "generous and unprecedented payment" to Los Angeles to pay back any transaction costs associated in the transfer as well as the dissolution of the 1967 Joint Powers Agreement between the two agencies, Hughes said.

The airport's history with LAWA dates back to 1967, when Los Angeles, at the request of Ontario, began managing and developing Ontario Airport, which at the time was serving less than a million passengers, Lindsey said.

Since then, more than $560 million in airport capital improvements have been made utilizing funds from a combination of LAX and ONT revenues, Federal Aviation Administration grants and bond proceeds secured by LAWA, she said.

"At the time, these investments and improvements were being made at ONT, LAX was deteriorating and not enough money was being re-invested for capital improvements," she said.

Lindsey said Ontario's offer does not come close to either the value of the airport today or address the value of the significant investment Los Angeles has dedicated to ONT.

Ontario airport is self-supporting and LAWA intends to hold onto this important Los Angeles asset, she said.

Lindsey denied claims LAWA mismanaged the airport and is not doing enough to turn around conditions at the facility.

LAWA officials contend it has not mismanaged the airport as has been implied by Ontario in the past.

Airport officials cite external, economic factors plaguing the airline industry for ONT's plummet in passenger traffic.

"Over the past 45 years, Los Angeles World Airports has made significant investments to modernize ONT," Lindsey said.

In the three-page letter, Hughes told Lindsey it is "completely false" to say that ONT had been improved at the expense of another city. ONT was modernized by investments funded by the airport's carriers, passengers and the FAA, he said.

Hughes also points out to Lindsey that as recently as September, LAWA used the same firm -- Santa Monica-based Fairbanks, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) -- for its own report. That firm produced Ontario opinion poll.

"In your own report, you referenced FM3's President John Fairbanks's well-earned reputation as the region's premier polling firm," he said.

Results of the poll demonstrates that voters in Los Angeles are in support of local control, Hughes said.

For the past couple of years, Ontario officials have lobbied for local control, claiming they would be able to convert the medium-hub facility into a competitive regional airport.

In that time frame, passenger traffic has declined at ONT while LAX has gotten busier. Flight schedules for the first half of 2012 will be reduced by about 8 percent compared with the same period in 2011.

Ontario officials had hoped for a transfer of ONT by a self-imposed deadline of July 1. Local control would help redistribute air traffic throughout the region to relieve the stress on area airport, which Ontario officials feel LAWA has failed to accomplish.

"The demise of regionalization has produced significant negative consequences for the citizens and the environment of Southern California," Hughes said. "Under local control, our commitment to the Southern California region is to reverse the rapid decline of passenger traffic, declining domestic departures and destination offerings while restoring the region's most important economic engine and job creator."

An updated economic analysis by the firm of Oliver Wyman, released last month, found the decline in air service at ONT between 2007 and 2011 has meant a $495 million economic hit to the Inland Empire.

The decline at ONT in the past four years has also meant a loss of 9,250 jobs to the region.

"We're talking about the largest economic engine in the region, it generates well over a $1 billion in annual economic impact. We will use any and all resources available to get the airport," Councilman Alan Wapner said.

To date, Ontario has spent about $250,000 on its efforts to regain control of the medium-hub airport.

Council members allotted $635,000 toward their overall efforts.

For their media campaign, officials have not identified how much the it will cost them.

"We will use any and all means to get the airport back," Wapner said.

Reach Liset via email, call her at 909-483-8556, or find her on Twitter @DBOntarioNow.

Copyright 2012 - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Calif.