Description

In recent years there has been a dramatic shift in the policy focus and political tenor of
aviation debates in Southern California. The focus has changed from adding capacity at
sites in the densely-populated coastal plain to making better use of capacity already
available at suburban airports. Politically, openness to new forms of regional
cooperation is replacing traditional inter-jurisdictional rivalries and recrimination. In this
context, SCAG’s Regional Aviation Plan in the adopted 2004 Regional Transportation
Plan (RTP) recommends strategies for decentralizing passenger and air cargo service
from congested urban airports to under-utilized suburban airports. New management
structures are needed to guide the decentralization process. Thus, the 2004 RTP
recommends a new “Regional Airport Consortium” for coordinating airport master
planning, facilities construction, and surface-transportation policies and planning.
In 2005 a Regional Airport Management Study was completed for SCAG. It surveyed
airport authorities around the country and identified the most appropriate organizational
structures for a new Regional Airport Consortium for Southern California. Three
potential governance arrangements were identified: (a) a structured Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) among the region’s ten established or emerging air carrier
airports (with participation by transportation agencies), similar to the New England
Airport Coalition MOU; (b) a new Joint Powers Authority (JPA) structure; and (c) a
reconstituted Southern California Regional Airport Authority (SCRAA) Joint Powers
Agreement.
This Implementation Study is a follow-up to the 2005 Study. Its purposes are to: (1)
survey stakeholders and policy experts on the most efficient and appropriate methods
for creating a new regional airport management structure consistent with the “Regional
Airport Consortium” concept proposed in the 2004 RTP; (2) complete case studies of the
development of comparable airport governance structures; (3) evaluate and recommend
specific elements of the new regional airport management structure from both an MOU
and JPA approach; (4) evaluate and recommend specific implementation strategies to
both create and ensure the success of a new governance structure by encouraging
participation and commitment from potential members; and (5) develop an
implementation timeline for the development of the new regional airport management
structure, with major milestones.
Lending urgency and focus to this Study, the dormant Southern California Regional
Airport Authority (SCRAA)—composed of the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles,
Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties—was reactivated in June 2006.
Despite past failures, this multi-jurisdictional JPA remains a leading vehicle for airport
decentralization and regionalization. The regional policy context has changed
substantially since the creation of SCRAA in the 1980s. Two watershed events—the
LAX Master Plan Settlement Agreement and resolution of the El Toro airport siting
debate—have shifted the focus of regional aviation debates. In the wake of these two
events, a new regional consensus has formed around air traffic decentralization.