Airport Growth Compromise Reached

Orange County, Newport Beach and homeowners groups agreed Tuesday to a compromise plan for the limited expansion of John Wayne Airport.

Under the proposal, there will be more expansion than Newport Beach or neighborhood organizations wanted but less than the county and business interests demanded.

For at least the next five years, the airport will serve a maximum of 4.75 million passengers annually. After that, the maximum will be 8.4 million a year, until 2005.

The airport handled 2.8 million passengers in 1984. The county originally proposed expansion to handle 10.24 million passengers a year.

The agreement specifies a smaller new terminal than first proposed. It will have less space for passenger waiting lounges and fewer loading bridges for large aircraft. The existing curfew on flights between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. will continue.

The settlement was strongly opposed by the McDonnell Douglas Corp., which has said it will continue to challenge the plan in court. The firm contends that noise restrictions discriminate against one type of aircraft it manufactures.