The State : Panel Warns of Airports

California’s airports are critically overloaded and unless the state improves its planning and funding for aviation there will be more delays and air safety problems in the future, a state commission concluded. In remarks critical of Gov. George Deukmejian’s budget for aviation, members of the California Aviation and Airport Commission said the state should spend $2.4 billion over the next 10 years to build two new major international airports near Los Angeles and San Francisco, five commercial service airports and nine new regional general aviation airports statewide. Commission Chairwoman Brooke Knapp said: “This situation is getting critical because building an airport can take 10-20 years. It is clear that we do not have enough airports. We do not have enough full-performance air traffic controllers. We do not have adequate, up-to-date equipment to handle the traffic of today, let alone the projected traffic of the future.”