Public Need for Service

Marina Del Rey is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area on the Pacific coast between Santa Monica and the Palos Verdes peninsula. It is a very short distance from the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which can be reached in a few minutes' driving time. Avalon is the center of tourism, and the principal harbor, for Santa Catalina Island, a popular summer resort area. Currently there is no scheduled vessel service between Marina Del Rey and Santa Catalina Island.

Sea Planes' proposed service would make Santa Catalina Island significantly more accessible to residents of the greater Los Angeles area because of its greater proximity to communities in west central Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley than San Pedro and Long Beach, the only Los Angeles area ports where scheduled service is now available. Moreover, Sea Planes intends to integrate this service with its coastwise services to Santa Barbara and San Diego, giving travelers and visitors new options for avoiding the area's crowded freeways. Sea Planes also plans to offer shuttle bus service to LAX, providing a new travel option for vacationers from outside Southern California.

In view of the immensity of the Southern California market and the total absence of competitive scheduled vessel service from Marina Del Rey or any nearby terminal, we find that Sea Planes' proposed and pending vessel services would fulfill a currently unserved public need. Sea Planes' plans for offering transfers between the Avalon runs and its coastwise services, and for establishing of intermodal arrangements for transferring from its vessels to LAX, are innovations which would not only better serve an existing need for transportation, but open view markets for recreational and business travel. Accordingly, we find that there is a need for the service proposed in this application.