John Wayne Airport

Nearly 200 passengers boarding a flight from John Wayne Airport to Phoenix on Wednesday had to disembark after a passenger found a knife aboard the plane, airport officials said. A passenger aboard the 10 a.m. U.S. Airways flight to Phoenix found a 3-inch pocket knife on the floor of the plane and turned it over to the flight crew, airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said. The 190 passengers went through security screening before boarding again, Wedge said. No passengers were detained.

The Airport Working Group has raised concerns that the Federal Aviation Administration has not done enough community outreach or environmental research before implementing a new satellite-based navigation system at John Wayne Airport. Called DUUKE ONE, the new system allows aircraft to fly a more consistent track down the middle of Upper Newport Bay, aviation officials claim. The system was put in place at John Wayne earlier this month. Airport activists are worried the new takeoff procedure may increase noise levels from aircraft, meaning more noise pollution for people who live under John Wayne’s flight path, said Tony Khoury, president of the Airport Working Group.

When a hospital or a school fails so miserably, officials usually rename it. The stakes in this case may not be life or death, but the Federal Aviation Administration has completely re-named the take-off procedure at John Wayne Airport. Now called STREL, the proposed route could be better received than its predecessors, DUUKE 1 and DUUKE 2. Newport Beach residents complained that those routes resulted in more noisy flights over their homes. Administrators are now back to the drawing board with their satellite-based flight navigation system.

Passengers traveling through John Wayne Airport Monday may donate blood from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross Bloodmobile will be parked at the Thomas F. Riley Terminal on the lower level outside of Terminal A, between the first and second traffic signal. Departing passengers may give blood prior to checking in for their flight, and arriving passengers may participate after picking up their luggage at baggage claim. “The blood drive is a convenient way for willing employees and passengers to donate to a good cause.

Richard Taylor warns us that a growing John Wayne Airport is like a fire that will "scorch this community to the bare ground," ("Call to action is late," Saturday). He mentions individuals and groups lecturing us on "what needs to be done to control John Wayne Airport." He criticizes Byron de Arakal for saying the settlement agreement, which keeps John Wayne Airport small, "does not override the county's Airport System Master Plan, the long-range planning scheme for the eventual build-out of John Wayne Airport that was ratified by the Board of Supervisors in October of 2001."

Not content with the right to veto any proposal for a second commercial runway at John Wayne Airport, Newport Beach is looking to leverage its power over airport expansion any way it can. The latest proposal is a position statement that ideally would be approved by the corridor cities in the flight path. The Newport Beach City Council will consider the position statement today. It said there is no viable site for a second Orange County airport, and the cities will search for ways to satisfy the demand without expanding John Wayne Airport.

Passenger levels at John Wayne Airport were down 11.3% for the year at the end of May, according to the latest statistics released Tuesday. Passenger levels at the airport dropped from about 3.7 million for the year in May 2008 to 3.3 million at the end of last month. John Wayne Airport served 739,093 passengers in May, compared with 771,124 passengers in May 2008, representing a drop of 4.2% for the month. Commercial carrier flight operations at the airport grew by 1.4% when compared to the same period a year ago. — Brianna Bailey

Aloha Airlines has added a flight from John Wayne Airport to Kahului, Maui, a month after initiating service to Honolulu. The first flight to Maui departed at 8:50 a.m. Friday from the airport's Gate 7. In a ceremony replaying the earlier festivities, the flight was blessed by a Hawaiian priest. Hula dancers also shimmied across the terminal carpet in front of the gate. Aloha began service at the airport May 1 with flights to Honolulu and Las Vegas.

John Wayne Airport's new federal security director is Kathleen Roscher, the Transportation Security Administration announced this week. The airport's federal security director is in charge of about 300 administration employees and handles security for all flights coming into John Wayne Airport. Roscher has worked for 30 years in the aviation industry, and for the past three years she has been assistant federal security director at San Francisco International Airport. She replaces Skip Williams, who held the position at John Wayne since the administration was formed in 2002 but was recently promoted.

Threat at JWA turns out to be a hoax An anonymous bomb threat at John Wayne Airport, which was phoned in to the Irvine Police Department on Tuesday afternoon, turned out to be a hoax, officials said. The call reportedly came in at 12:33 p.m., said Justin McCusker, spokesman for John Wayne Airport. "Airport officials and Orange County Sheriff's deputies did a search and determined there was no credible threat," he said. McCusker said the threat did not cause any delays.