=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2005/02/08/EDGCCB6GKI= 1.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, February 8, 2005 (SF Chronicle) SFO's 'smart' plan for air-traffic growth John L. Martin As passenger travel at San Francisco International Airport begins to recover from a historic drop of 11 million annual passengers since January 2001, the airport is focused on a "smart growth" strategy that targets specific types of service and uses state-of-the art technology, allowing more efficient use of limited physical space. The airport is now focused on increasing long-haul and international service, because this type of service translates to larger aircraft with more passengers per plane, but fewer flights. That, along with the implementation of a new radar landing procedure, allows SFO to make more efficient use of its limited runway capacity. The "smart growth" program at SFO has resulted in a 12 percent growth in passenger traffic in the first 11 months of 2004, while the number of flight operations has grown by only 5.1 percent. Why? Larger planes with higher passenger loads. We are pleased that our recruitment efforts for international flights ha= ve resulted in new services from SFO to New Zealand, Iceland, China, Vietnam and Mexico at competitive fares. Virgin America's announcement that its primary base of operations will be SFO will add to the continuing number of competitively priced long-haul domestic flights. This is good news for the entire Bay Area: A recent report by the Bay Area Economic Forum notes that 10 new domestic flights a day at SFO translates to 3,892 direct and indirect jobs, $71 million in direct wage income and $23 million in annual state and local taxes in the Bay Area. SFO's goal is to continue to handle the vast majority of the Bay Area's international traffic as well as a majority of the long-haul markets. We expect to see much larger international passenger growth than domestic passenger growth in the coming years. The average overseas flight to Asia or Europe at SFO handles, on average, 2.5 times as many passengers as the average domestic flight. Thus, international flights make the most efficient use of our limited runway capacity. Airport capacity, however, is a regional issue. The Bay Area must therefore pursue a program of smart planning and growth when it comes to the most efficient use of the region's smaller airports to provide the best service to Bay Area residents. Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento International Airports are all undergoi= ng major terminal redevelopment and expansion programs. These Bay Area airports will nonetheless eventually face constrained runway capacity. Thus, the Bay Area needs to plan for the return and growth of commercial air service at other regional airports, including Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa and Buchanan Field in Concord. (This will not affect the operation of small, private aircraft into and out of these airports.) Plans should also be made to ensure that Travis Air Force base is available for commercial use should it ever be decommissioned as a military base. In the long term, Stockton Airport and Livermore Municipal Airport should also grow to meet forecasted regional demand. The development of similar smaller regional airports has already occurred in Los Angeles and New York. In recent years, Long Beach has started to handle much larger passenger volumes. The Palmdale Airport, east of Los Angeles, has also recently been cleared for commercial use. Residents in the North Bay should once again have nearby commercial air service, which was canceled after the Sept. 11 attacks, and should not have to face a 90-minute drive to SFO or Oakland Airport. Sonoma County Airport is properly moving forward on plans to extend its runway to handle regional jet aircraft and upgrade its passenger terminal. Buchanan Field has also previously handled commercial flights. Tentative plans to relocate that airport should anticipate the future demand for commercial flights. Even with commercial flights, these airports will handle a relatively small number of passengers. But their use will help to increase system capacity and reduce Bay Area freeway traffic, thereby decreasing vehicle emissions. It makes good environmental sense. The aviation industry has changed dramatically since Sept. 11, 2001, and the shakeout is still occurring. The future of the industry is still unknown. United Airlines, still in bankruptcy, accounts for almost 50 percent of SFO's traffic. The model for Virgin America's domestic operation at SFO has also not been announced. As these uncertainties are settled, SFO will begin updating its projections. In the meantime, SFO will continue to target smart growth and the deployment of technology to make the most of limited runway capacity. The new Precision Runway Monitor system, a $20 million investment that allows planes to land on parallel runways during certain bad-weather conditions, was inaugurated in October. This has allowed us to increase operations by more than 30 percent in certain weather conditions. As the industry stabilizes, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission a= nd its Regional Airport Planning Committee should update the Regional Airport System Plan to ensure coordinated and smart planning. Only after the airline industry has started to stabilize and progress is made on updating the regional plan should policy-makers revisit the issue of runway configuration at SFO. John L. Martin is director of San Francisco International Airport. -----= ----------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2005 SF Chronicle