LAX won’t hit Bradley opening target

Weather delays have pushed back the opening of the new Tom Bradley Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport beyond the 12-12-12 target of late this year. LAX has told the mayor and the Board of Airport Commissioners that the work, primarily designed to expand gates for bigger international aircraft, will likely push to spring 2013.

Airport officials are primarily blaming rain and fog for the postponement. In particular, they are citing heavy inversion layers that prevent the use of large cranes. “We cannot extend the cranes because the pilots taking off and landing are required to be able to actually see the cranes,” spokeswoman Nancy Suey Castles said. The December timetable also did not turn out to work well for the airlines, who were against a new terminal rollout during the busy mid-December holiday period.

The airport does still expect to open Gate 134, on the end of the north concourse, this fall.

The new terminal and the new generation of jumbo jets it will accommodate are expected to be a windfall to the city of Los Angeles, which runs the airport. The $1.5-billion project, one of the biggest construction projects in Southern California, will include 18 new gates, including nine that can serve the A380 and the Boeing787 Dreamliner.