John Wayne Airport (JWA) is not only a key travel resource for the Orange County community, it’s also a powerful economic engine that drives the regional economy by generating more than 43,000 jobs and over six billion dollars in annual economic impact. It also strives to balance Orange County’s air transportation needs with the concerns of local residents living in the vicinity of the Airport.
In the spirit of honoring important milestones, JWA launched a year-long celebration in honor of the Thomas F. Riley Terminal serving the traveling public well for the past 25 years.
In October 2015, JWA completed installation of a state-of-the-art noise monitoring system to replace the noise system that was installed in 1997. The new system included the replacement of 10 noise monitors in the community, as well as software and communications equipment to transmit the noise data to the Airport’s office for analyzing and reporting.
The Board of Supervisors took a leadership role in representing the interests of Orange County by directing the Airport to meet with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and to coordinate the County’s analysis and comments on the FAA’s Draft Environmental Assessment of the Southern California Metroplex project. This FAA project seeks to update the nation’s air traffic control system, moving it from ground-based navigation to satellite-based navigation, making the airspace more efficient.
The Board approved updates to the Phase 2 Commercial Airline Access Plan and Regulation to reflect what was agreed upon in the Settlement Agreement, including passenger and operational limits.
As part of our aggressive water conservation efforts, JWA uses “dry wash” methods for general aviation aircraft and uses low-flow/automatic fixtures in Airport Terminal and Administrative building restrooms. We have also discontinued irrigation of Airport medians, use drip irrigation for landscaped areas and are replacing grass with artificial turf, gravel and drought-tolerant plants.
To improve community access and streamline traffic flow to and from the Airport, JWA added a right-turn lane at the intersection of Campus Drive (south) and North Bristol Street. This eliminates a potential vehicle bottleneck and makes exiting the airport area more expedient.