Believe it or not, I’m walking on air

Mammoth still aiming to become Greatest American (Aviation) Heroes.

At a special meeting of the Mono County Airport Land Use Commission on March 30, Town of Mammoth Lakes staff presented a $30 million expansion proposal for Mammoth Yosemite Airport, as described in the Airport Layout Plan (ALP). Mammoth’s Planning and Economic Development Commission approved the project in January.

The Town has been working on the ALP for the past two years, which reflects, “what we expect the airport to look like within the next 10 years,” said Mammoth Lakes Public Works Director, Grady Dutton. The plan’s capital improvement program projects spending of $55 million over 25-30 years,

The ALP mainly focuses on the next five years, projecting $30 million in spending on construction and related improvements for a three-gate terminal east of the current terminal and an aircraft apron (the area where airplanes park, load and refuel) expansion suitable for three regional aircraft to park at the same time.

The FAA regional office in San Francisco gave conditional approval of the ALP in August, 2014. With this conditional approval, these projects are eligible for FAA funds.

“Without FAA funds this doesn’t happen,” Dutton said. The FAA is expected to fund roughly 91 percent of the expansion project.

After the conditional approval, the Town drafted the Airport Layout Plan Narrative (ALPN), which has been submitted to the FAA. This plan includes projections for air traffic for the region 10 years out and a terminal area development study describing the probable size and amenities of proposed terminal. (The entire ALPN can be found on the Town of Mammoth Lakes website.)

The FAA is currently considering whether an environmental analysis (EA) or and environmental impact study (EIS) is required for the airport expansion project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

While this is being determined, the Town has initiated the design process, with an RFQ (request for qualifications) expected to go out next month, Dutton said. This will cost $294,000, which will be funded by an existing FAA grant.

Airport and Transportation Manager, Brian Picken, told the commission that the current terminal is “dreadfully undersized” and there is “an immediate need based on our services” to expand the terminal.

“It’s time to accommodate flight schedules from different markets. One flight an hour is very limiting,” he said.

“The point of the expansion is for us to be able to attract more airlines and land more planes at better times,” said Mammoth Lakes Tourism (MLT) Director John Urdi. “Right now we’re at [the airlines’] mercy.”

According to Picken, the Mammoth Yosemite Airport sees approximately 1,300-1,400 commercial flights a year and 7,000 general aviation flights. The proposed terminal is 40,000-square feet with all three gates on one side “typical of other mountain airports,” he said. With the expanded terminal, the ALP forecasts an increase from approximately 25,000 enplanements in 2014 to 82,000 commercial enplanements by 2025. The expansion plans accommodate CRJ-700  and Q-400 regional jets, which seats 70 and 76 passengers respectively.

However, enplanements were down about 16% from 2013 to 2014 and they are currently down about 5% from last year. “Reasons for the drop include, a reduction in the number of flights to increase passenger load factors (which reduces the amount of the subsidy) and several years of drought which have affected our resort occupancy,” Picken told the Sheet Tuesday. “The actual story is more complex as enplanements in some markets have been up this year (LAX/SAN) while other markets (SFO/LAS) have not been up or they are new markets that will naturally have lower load factors as they establish themselves.”

“We need the flexibility in scheduling to have concurrent flights in the morning and evenings which is when people want to come,” said Tom Hodges, Vice President of Development at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area. “If we can increase load factor then, in theory, we can reduce the requirement to subsidize.”

In FY 2013-2014, Mammoth Lakes Tourism (MLT) and MMSA combined to spend approximately $4.5 million subsidizing commercial air service. Urdi said that in the month of December, Mammoth Lakes Tourism didn’t have to subsidize any of the flights and they even made $10,000. “I expect that would have went on if the snow didn’t continue to die off,” he said.

For the summer of 2014, total subsidies for air service cost $901,000 said Urdi, with Mono County contributing $50,000 and MLT covering the rest. This winter (through February 2015) MLT owes Alaska Airlines approximately $1 million for subsidizing flights from LAX, San Diego and Las Vegas.

“It’s all about right sizing,” Urdi said. “We had the right size service this year and we’ll have the right size next year.”

This right sizing includes limiting mid-week flights, while increasing flights around the weekend. By cutting flights “when we know we can’t fill planes,” Urdi hopes to “to create demand by concentrating on having flights on the right days will help us.”

“We don’t have enough of a base to organically support air service,” Picken told the commission on Monday. “I don’t know a mountain airport that doesn’t subsidize flights.”

When asked if MMSA will contribute financially to the expansion project, Hodges said, “It hasn’t been a hard fast discussion as of yet.”

Urdi said that MLT will contribute to the expansion funding “whether it’s our Measure A dollars or helping to find it,” he said.

According to Picken, the Mammoth Yosemite Airport is currently operating at 3 percent of airfield capacity, based on FAA measurements of how utilized the runways are. (An average airport runway sees a plane take off or land every 3 to 6 minutes.) The ALP projects an increase to 4.8 percent capacity over ten years.

“We clearly need a new terminal now and the FAA recognizes this,” Picken said. “The airlines are cramped, ground equipment is cramped, TSA is cramped, the baggage system is not ideal, transit services are cramped, the ramp is cramped. A three gate terminal for our existing and forecast activity seems reasonable. I think the focus now is on doing it right.”

The Airport Land Use Commission will meet again at 9 a.m. on April 27 to make a determination regarding the consistency of the ALP for the Mammoth Yosemite Airport with the County’s Airport Land Use Plan.