(March 29, 2004, posted at 2:55 p.m.) -- A draft report by the Federal Aviation Administraion (FAA) lists LB Airport among 16 airports nationally it says will need additional capacity by 2013, and 18 it says will need still more capacity by 2020.

FAA spokesperson Marcia Adams verbally listed for LBReport.com the airports, including LB, that she said the draft study indicates require additional capacity. However, a number of details about the study were not yet released by the agency. Ms. Adams said the full report is set for release in May 2004.

Among the 16 airports forecast in the draft study as needing additional capacity by 2013 are Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena and OC's John Wayne Airport. Included among 11 others needing more capacity by 2013 if planned improvements aren't made is LAX.

Long Beach and OC's John Wayne Airports are also listed as among 18 needing more capacity by 2020.

Ms. Adams told LBReport.com that this new study is not the same as the annual forecasts routinely released by FAA's forecasting staff, done out of the agency's policy and plans office. The FAA's airport capacity study was done through the FAA's office of airports...and is a separate study, Ms. Adams said.

LB City Councilmembers have previously indicated that in their travels to Washington, D.C. for meetings with FAA officials, they stressed the need for LB Airport's flight limits.

Ms. Adams told LBReport.com that the study looked at 300 airports in 300 metro areas and based its conclusions on a "socio-economic" model using factors such as population growth, travel and income trends to project future airport needs and air traffic growth.

The FAA, a federal agency funded and accountable to Congress, regulates air traffic, promotes aviation and dispenses federal money for projects that include expanding airports. Among the ways to increase airport capacity are building larger facilities, changing air traffic patterns, or both.

Reaction is pending as we post.