Panel OKs contract for LAX planning

The Los Angeles Airport Commission approved a one-year, $25-million contract Monday for a Florida aviation company to manage preparations for expansion and modernization plans at Los Angeles International Airport.

DMJM Aviation Inc. will focus its initial efforts on planning for new gates west of Tom Bradley International Terminal to accommodate such super-jumbo jets as the Airbus A380.

The firm, based in Tampa, will also concentrate on details of the Bradley terminal’s ongoing renovation plans as well as other construction projects that are part of a decade-long airport improvement strategy anticipated to cost $5 billion to $8 billion.

In recommending the contract, airport managers said that LAX “suffers from the combined afflictions of physical decay and design inadequacy” – flaws that could jeopardize thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in business if the airport fails to update its facilities. Airports in other cities already have prepared for the larger aircraft, the airport staff said.

“In this first year we must build an organization and the tools to launch a facility-wide multibillion-dollar redevelopment construction program,” Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, told the airport commission Monday.

Lindsey’s staff will review DMJM’s yearlong work in anticipation of extending its contract for six years, according to the staff report.

duke.helfand@latimes.com