I can't begin to count the number of times I have flown in and out of Bob Hope Airport ... twice last week and I'll be flying out again next week. 

I always choose Bob Hope when I can for either business or personal travel. It is easy and convenient.

So it was no surprise that a recent survey of San Gabriel Valley businesses found that more than 40 percent said that easy access to one of the regional airports that serves our Valley - Bob Hope and LA/Ontario International Airport - is a top reason they are located in the SGV.

But there is a real threat to the availability of that service.

Bob Hope is locally controlled by the cities of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena through a joint powers authority. Ontario is controlled by the city of Los Angeles through Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA).

You might wonder why an airport in Ontario, 35 miles from downtown Los Angeles, is controlled by LAWA.

Forty-five years ago, Ontario was frequently used as a diversion airport for the often fogged-in LAX. Today airplane technology makes it possible for plans to land in limited visibility conditions, making a diversion airport unnecessary.

Every airport saw the number of air passengers drop after 9/11. Air travel plummeted again during the recession. But now business travel and tourism is on the rebound, passenger numbers are climbing and airports are restarting construction and modernization plans that had been put on hold.

Unfortunately, the numbers are continuing to decline at ONT from a high of 7.2 million annual passengers in 2007 to just 4.3 million annual passengers today. Lower cost carriers, which typically choose to operate out of smaller airports, are leaving Ontario.

The city of Ontario began investigating what was causing the decline in service and passengers. What they found painted a clear picture of an airport that is in real trouble for a very simple reason - the cost of running ONT is too high.

Airport costs are measured by the Cost per Enplaned Passenger (CPE). The CPE is the sum of the charges paid by the airline divided by the number of passengers departing. Ontario's CPE is more than double the U.S. median. So airlines did what any business would do - they reduced or stopped service from ONT.

The answer, of course is to reduce, operating costs. But LAWA is making that impossible. The airport has almost 300 employees, while a typical airport its size should have 100. ONT is forced to pay city of Los Angeles union wages even though wages in the Inland Empire and SGV are lower, and LAWA is charging a 15 percent administrative overhead fee on ONT revenues.

Instead of addressing these problems, LAWA cut ONT's marketing budget by 80 percent, thereby exacerbating the ONT's plight...

The impacts on the SGV are significant - 1.3 million additional trips on our freeways because passengers are forced to travel to LAX, loss of business and jobs that we could have attracted, and the only Southern California airport that has the potential for growth instead now facing extinction.

Local control is the answer. The city of Ontario has offered $50 million to dissolve the current agreement with Los Angeles plus they would take over the outstanding debt service, and repay some of the funds used for the new terminal.

The San GabrielValley Economic Partnership, the Southern California Association of Governments, many cities, and newspapers and other civic and business groups are on record supporting the return of the airport to local control. If you agree, tell the Mayor and Council for the City of Los Angeles know. A strong regional airport system helps everyone.

Cynthia Kurtz is president and CEO of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership. She can be reached at facebook.com/SGVEP.