Long Beach Airport - Overview

Overview

Long Beach Airport has very little passenger service compared with the dominant Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) approximately 18 miles (29 km) to the northwest, and will always remain a relatively small airport because of restrictive ordinances adopted to minimize noise in the residential neighborhoods near LGB. The airport is under one of the strictest ordinances in the United States on both airport noise and the number of commercial flights. The current noise levels allow for 41 daily commercial flights and 25 commuter flights. Local community groups and activists are very vocal about any changes at the airport.

At the same time, the arrival of low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways at Long Beach Airport in 2001, and that airline's decision to establish a West Coast hub at LGB, has substantially increased the air traffic to the airport and has cemented LGB's standing as a viable alternative to LAX for flights from the Los Angeles area to major East Coast cities. While JetBlue used the local noise ordinance to turn Long Beach Airport into a miniature fortress hub, it quickly reached maximum capacity and has since been forced to rework flight schedules and direct future growth to other Los Angeles area airports. JetBlue calls LGB a Focus city and now operates 31 of the 41 slots.

Air cargo carriers, including FedEx and UPS, also maintain operations out of LGB. 57,000 tons of goods are transported each year.

The Boeing Company (formerly McDonnell Douglas) maintains production of the C-17 military transport jet; maintenance facilities for other Boeing and McDonnell Douglas/Douglas aircraft (including the historic DC-9 and DC-10 aircraft) are also found at Long Beach Airport. Gulfstream Aerospace also has a completion/service center at the airport.

Although commercial flights are severely restricted, there are still a large number of flights at the airport from charter flights, private aviation, flight schools, law enforcement flights, helicopters, advertising blimps, planes towing advertising banners, etc. Because of that, Long Beach airport is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world, with 398,433 aircraft movements in 2007.

Long Beach Airport has a single terminal. It is notable for its Streamline Moderne style of architecture and is a historical landmark. Because of the age and limited size of the current terminal, changes—including a possible addition—are currently on-going.

Long Beach Transit Routes 111, 104, and 102 serve the airport. Wardlow Road runs from the airport to the Los Angeles County/Orange County border, where it becomes Ball Road and crosses the northern edge of the Disneyland Resort.

Long Beach Airport is the second closest airport to Disneyland, after John Wayne Airport.

In 2009, Mario Rodriguez was appointed as the airport's director. Having previously led Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport, he was appointed to a three year term on the board of directors of Airports Council International-North America.