John Wayne Airport

Former NBA player Javaris Crittenton , who was suspended from the league for having guns in the Washington Wizards' locker room with teammate Gilbert Arenas , was arrested Monday night in Orange County to face a murder charge in an Atlanta shooting, an FBI spokeswoman said. Crittenton was taken into custody about 8 p.m. at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana after checking in for a Delta Air Lines flight to Atlanta, spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. Eimiller said he was arrested without incident by FBI agents with assistance from the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

How the budget for John Wayne Airport's new electricity and air conditioning generator nearly tripled — from $11 million to $31 million — apparently is not a case of misconduct or frivolous spending. Rather, it illustrates how major construction projects often morph. "The most likely culprit is that the project is so complex and there are so many unknowns," said Allan Hauck, head of the construction management department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. When airport officials started planning to produce their own electricity and air conditioning in the early 2000s, they didn't account for replacing much of the aging existing equipment.

Get ready to get lost at Orange County's John Wayne Airport (SNA), where gates will be renumbered next week so that new gates coming in the fall won't be out of sequence. Fortunately, extra people will be on hand to direct you. Starting Tuesday, gates and baggage carousels will be numbered sequentially from north to south, the airport said Wednesday in a statement. The new layout will reverse the current order. For example, Gate 14 will become Gate 2. Newly renumbered Gates 1A, 1B and 1C will serve the North Commuter Terminal, and Gates 16A and 16B will serve the South Commuter Terminal.

The Federal Aviation Administration has successfully completed tests for a new John Wayne Airport flight path, and planes will start flying the new route this month. The procedure is the result of a nearly one-year tussle between Newport Beach residents and FAA officials, who agreed to modify a new satellite-based navigation system after residents complained about jet engine noise in the skies above some homes. The new route, called STREL, replaces two others that had raised the ire of residents on the east side of upper Newport Bay and in the Irvine Terrace neighborhood.

After five days of surfing and Mexican food, the three buddies were flying home to the South Bay from Scorpion Bay, the world-class surf break on the Baja Peninsula. They had eaten a roasted pig with other travelers, watched an off-road truck race and enjoyed the sun. But on the last leg of their journey home, the trip took a tragic turn. Veteran pilot and surfer Chuck Chambers radioed air traffic controllers that he was diverting his four-seat plane to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana because it was low on fuel.

Can a strip mall space in Newport Beach magically transport clubbers to Hollywood, minus the drive? Owners of 8Eighty8, a new late-night dancing destination in the shadow of Orange County's John Wayne Airport, are betting on it. "We met with the general manager of Drai's Hollywood [before opening], and he told us that 65% to 70% of his business comes from Orange Country," said 8Eighty8's new Executive Vice President Jim Haim Sarvey on a recent Saturday. He sat inside his newly opened club, formerly known as Red, nestled inside a fairly drab mini-mall.

In response to tough economic times, large corporations have ordered severe cuts to travel spending over the last two years or so, a move that has staggered the hotel and airline industries. To cut costs, 67% of the business travel managers responding to a survey said they changed corporate policies to restrict business-class air travel. Only 9% said they allow travelers to upgrade to first or business class on flights within North America. On international flights, the survey shows, travel managers are more likely to allow for upgrades.

Real estate magnate William Lyon fell in love with aviation at age 16 after paying $1 to fly in an airplane. Seventy years later, that enduring love is on display at John Wayne Airport, in a recently opened museum stocked with vintage military aircraft from the 86-year-old home builder's private collection. The Lyon Air Museum, housed in a newly constructed 30,000-square-foot building with gleaming white floors and a wall of windows overlooking a runway, is a tribute to World War II and the birth of modern aviation.

Aviation officials are adopting a new satellite-based departure procedure for planes flying out of John Wayne Airport that could save fuel, cut emissions and reduce noise around Upper Newport Bay in Newport Beach. Under current rules, aircraft taking off from John Wayne can start turning around right when they reach the shoreline, but starting next month, the new navigation system will direct planes to fly 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile out over the ocean before turning, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.