John Wayne Airport is wrapping up a major expansion without huge delays, without blowing its budget, without becoming embroiled in lawsuits and without firing its lead contractor.
That might seem like a low bar to clear, but it's a big deal when viewed against the problems of the last major expansion, which finished in 1990.
The airport's project opens in two weeks, and while it hasn't been without hiccups, it is arriving on-time and within budget, a significant accomplishment given the vast scope and $543 million price tag.
"We're very pleased with how the project's gone," said Alan Murphy, airport director. "There are a lot of moving pieces ... and that always opens up the potential for problems."
The airport is a largely self-sustaining operation that, while publicly run, doesn't rely on Orange County taxpayers to pay its bills. Instead, the nine-figure tab was mostly covered by bonds, revenue from airlines and concessions, a $4.50 fee levied on departing travelers and federal grants.
Headlining the expansion are a new terminal and a new parking structure, but numerous other elements are expected to make JWA more efficient, more attractive and more convenient.
An on-site power plant is covering most of the airport's energy needs, remodeling will make the older terminal areas look like the new ones, and modernized systems for parking garages and ticket counters should soothe the many headaches of traveling.
"We're not just building a new terminal," said Jenny Wedge, airport spokeswoman. "We're bringing you a new, improved John Wayne Airport."
More space means the airport is designed to serve 10.8 million passengers annually, the maximum allowed under a legal settlement crafted to limit noise in surrounding neighborhoods.
Some observers question the need for such a pricey expansion, especially since JWA is regarded as a relatively stress-free place to fly.
"It's not really necessary to have that big building," longtime airport activist Charles Griffin said of the new terminal. "It could handle 10.8 as it was."
Traffic has dipped considerably at JWA, a nationwide phenomenon as the country limps along economically. With the airport operating about 20 percent below its passenger cap, critics say not enough has been done to boost demand.
"Once they decided to build (the terminal), I wish they had given more effort to filling it with airplanes," said Len Kranser, another veteran airport observer. "We're going to have a lot more seats in the terminal and a lot more spaces in parking lots, but we really don't have a lot more flights."
Airport officials recently offered incentives for airlines to offer service to Mexico, but argue they have limited power to add destinations.
"We can't make the airlines do anything," Wedge said. "They're going to operate at whatever the demand of the market is."
Also, officials say excessive demand was being placed on parking, baggage handling and gate availability.
Those points, coupled with the airport's stable finances, make the expansion a "good investment," said Paul Eckles, another JWA watcher.
"The airport has always been very busy, and the airlines like it, and adding a little bit of capacity to it was probably a good idea," Eckles said.
JWA hasn't been alone in growing during a sluggish time for the airline industry. Mineta San Jose International Airport completed a $1.3 billion expansion last year, and Los Angeles International Airport spent $737 million last year to upgrade the Tom Bradley terminal.
For JWA, the $543 million figure includes the prices of the power plant and various capital improvements – some of which are yet to be completed – that weren't part of the original estimate of $435 million.
Overall costs are coming in as projected, but finances didn't always look great during five years of work. Design and construction of an aircraft parking lot cost more than $40 million, double what was expected before the awarding of a contract.
"The estimate really was not good on that project," Wedge said.
Plans for the power plant became gradually grander, and even after officials settled on a design, it still came in $6 million more expensive than expected.
In some instances, paperwork errors cost the airport serious cash. The lowest bidder on the terminal transposed numbers on its quote and was disqualified; the next-closest bid was about $3 million more. On a project involving new ticket counters and a universal computer system, the lowest bidder again lost out because of technical issues, a mistake that cost the airport $750,000.
And at one point, airport officials tacked on $135 million to the price tag because of projected spike in costs of energy and raw materials.
Ultimately, that increase didn't materialize. Instead, the recession intervened and created an ultra-weak construction sector, resulting in bids that were dramatically lower than officials projected.
"We were able to take advantage of one of the silver linings of the recession," Murphy said.
To the extent there were difficulties, they didn't compare with a previous expansion in 1990. That effort saw construction start before designs were complete, leading to confusion and delays. By the time work concluded nearly six months behind schedule, lawsuits had been filed, the lead architect had forfeited hundreds of thousands of dollars to offset late work and the head contractor had been fired from part of the project.
The likelihood of JWA witnessing another major expansion – successful or otherwise – appears low, both because of legal constraints on flights and practical limits on the 500-acre property.
"I don't see any more improvements of this nature happening in the next 50 years," Supervisor John Moorlach said.
Murphy was more circumspect, but suggested JWA is close to being fully grown up.
"It's hard to say, because who knows what the aviation business is going to look like 20 years from now, but ... we are running out of space," Murphy said. "We've basically developed everything we can develop."
