Security Zones Put Bite on Airport Businesses : Safety: New restrictions prompted by terrorism worries have cut into profit margins. Some officials say the rules will remain even after the Gulf War ends.
Both McDonald’s franchises at John Wayne Airport in Orange County are inside the so-called “secure” or “sterile” zones where, under Persian Gulf War security rules, non-passengers are no longer allowed to go.
But beginning last week, in a fast adjustment, the non-passengers--including parking attendants and other airport employees no longer permitted beyond the checkpoints--could order hamburgers, french fries and other items on a special hot line. Within minutes, their orders were delivered through the security lines by McDonald’s employees.
“There was a drop. The security interfered somewhat in our business,” Isabel Villasenor, the franchise holder, said. “The airport authorities got their creative juices going, and they came up with this. They’re letting us use their courtesy lines.”
Such ingenuity is spreading. The security rules are not yet four weeks old, but already Southland airports--concerned over business losses or inconveniences to non-passengers--have scrambled to make new arrangements, providing at least elementary food services and lounge seating outside the secured areas.
Meanwhile, longer-range plans are being developed for permanent changes. At Ontario Airport, where a new terminal is planned, a study is under way on a linear configuration that would allow most restaurants and gift shops to be outside the secured areas, said Ron Kochevar, acting airport manager.
Los Angeles International Airport Manager Stephen Yee said: “The kind of security arrangements we have now may well be permanent. And so we are looking at various areas that might be converted on a permanent basis. At the Delta terminal, for instance, we had closed some concessionaire space outside what became the sterile area. Now, we have reopened it.”
At Los Angeles on Friday, Host International, the leading food concessionaire at the airport, opened new fast-food outlets in some terminals, often near baggage areas where many “meeters and greeters” have been forced to wait, rather uncomfortably, for arriving passengers.
Yee estimated that the airport is visited by about 1.5 non-passengers for every passenger. With the access restrictions, this ratio may decline permanently unless convenient places can be provided to greet and bid farewell to passengers. Unlike Ontario, Los Angeles has pretty much completed its new terminals, and they were not built with the new tight security system in mind.
The urgency to make adjustments is greater at Los Angeles International than elsewhere because not only the number of non-passengers, but also the numbers of passengers has dropped, causing the concessionaires severe losses of business and threatening to lower the airport’s income from its tenants.
The Burbank, Ontario and John Wayne airports, which benefit heavily from short-hop business commuter traffic, report little if any passenger downturn since the war began. Burbank also is in the favorable position of having most of its food and gift shops outside security checkpoints. It has been the least disrupted of the Southland airports
Yee said that the Los Angeles airport is experiencing a 10% to 15% decrease in passengers compared to the same period last year. He estimates that given the war and recession, the passenger load at LAX could decline from the 46 million of 1990 to 43 or 44 million this year.
William Heiler, controller of Host International’s restaurant concessions at the airport, said last week that his company’s business has declined about 15% since the war began.
During the first week, there was no falloff, he said, because passengers came to the airport early, fearing long check-in lines and other delays, and ended up with time on their hands and little to do but eat. Since then, “our sales have fallen,” Heiler said.
Rick Sneed, national spokesman for Marriott Corp., parent company of Host International, expressed concern Friday. “The vast majority of our business comes from travelers,” he said. “But if the non-traveler is 15 or 18% of it, that’s substantial. We don’t want to have any decrease in sales.”
Charles Johnson, general manager of Concessions International, the food concessionaire in the Bradley International Terminal at the airport, said business is down 11%.
“Of course, there’s nothing concrete on how long this will last,” Johnson said. “But even if the war ends, I’m half-expecting an aftershock of terrorism, and that could keep it down.”
He also expressed concern that some foreign carriers, particularly to Europe, may soon cut back service, further reducing the number of passengers using the terminal.
Baker Salleh, Los Angeles manager of DFS West, which runs the airport’s duty-free shops as well as its standard gift shops with their newspapers, magazines and paperbacks, said: “The international traffic is certainly down significantly, a bit less so for domestic passengers on long hauls.
“We are seeing fairly wide business fluctuations on a daily basis,” he said. “Some days, we’re down 8%, others 20%.
Salleh said DFS will not try to put more shops outside the secure parts of the airport because most of the gift shop business is with passengers. He said the company may limit the hours at some shops “where the falloff is more significant.”
Tina Ruvalcava, business representative for Hotel Employees, Restaurant Employees Union Local 814, said some members already have experienced reductions in work hours or workdays and have been warned of possible layoffs.
“If this situation is protracted,” she said, “we are bound to see a decline in foot traffic. The parties of four and five who used to come to the airport to see people off and welcome them are no longer coming. Now, it’s usually only one person who comes, and he may not even go inside.”
Airport skycaps, no longer permitted under the new security rules to check baggage at curbside, say they are still earning some tips by carrying luggage inside, but that it is nowhere near the tips they used to receive. Fewer skycaps are in evidence.
The drop-off in passengers is easily visible; in fact, it can seem even greater than the official statistics would indicate. One afternoon last week, as passenger Mary Smythe arrived in the Delta terminal, she remarked to a companion: “It’s the barest I’ve ever seen it. It’s scary.” The parking lots outside were quite a bit less than half filled, and the terminal was only sparsely populated at the time.
BACKGROUND
On the day the allied attack against Iraq began, Southland airports, acting under a security plan developed by the Federal Aviation Administration, closed areas beyond security checkpoints to non-passengers, ended curbside baggage check-in, began impounding unattended luggage, started towing away unattended vehicles in loading zones, and increased police patrols.
