Officials’ Reaction to LAX Expansion Plan Generally Favorable

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, City Council members and federal aviation officials offered generally bullish assessments of a plan released Friday to expand Los Angeles International Airport and accommodate an additional 35 million annual travelers by 2015.

The elected officials said the airport must grow to bolster the economy of Southern California, while aviation bureaucrats expressed no immediate concerns about safety, despite the prospect of adding thousands of flights to the world’s most crowded airspace.

But at least two officials--state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) and Los Angeles Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who represents the airport area--responded skeptically to the proposal.

Riordan led a host of business and community leaders who assembled at a downtown luncheon to praise the expansion plan, which must receive approval from the city’s Airport Commission and City Council, as well as the Federal Aviation Administration.

The mayor touted the added runways, terminals and transportation facilities as coming at no cost to average taxpayers. He later acknowledged that the improvements would be financed through increased ticket fees, higher airline landing fees and rent hikes for airport concessionaires, but insisted: “This will not cost Los Angeles a penny.”

At City Hall, council members said they want to see more details, but generally support an expansion that could add up to 60% more passengers over two decades.

“It’s something we absolutely have to do. The airport, along with the harbor, should be the city’s focal point for economic development,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick. “LAX needs to be positioning itself as the gateway to trade in the far East and to the south, to Mexico.”

Hayden, who has said he may run for mayor next spring, believes Los Angeles International Airport is operating at capacity and that the quality of life for neighbors will suffer with each added plane.

“I can tell you what is driving this process is a growth mania that seems to be a central tendency of the Riordan administration,” Hayden said. “They treat congestion and the community’s quality of life as an afterthought. I think it should be the other way around.”

Galanter complained that she has asked the FAA repeatedly about safety concerns but never received a direct answer.

“The FAA’s attitude has been, ‘Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head, daddy is in charge here,’ ” Galanter said. “And remember, the FAA has a dual role in promoting and regulating the airline industry, which is a conflict of interest.”

An FAA spokesman said the agency will wait for officials in Los Angeles and Orange counties to release more definitive expansion plans before deciding how to route air traffic and attend to safety concerns. The Orange County Board of Supervisors this week endorsed the concept of building an international airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The addition of the El Toro airport would require reconfiguration of the complex mix of air traffic corridors and chunks of airspace around Southern California that are filled by five major commercial airports--LAX, Ontario, John Wayne, Burbank and Long Beach Municipal. But major changes may be eased in coming years by new navigation and surveillance technologies that will permit airliners to take off, fly and land closer to one another, with no degradation of safety, said Mitch Barker, an FAA spokesman.

Times staff writers Jim Rainey and Jodi Wilgoren contributed to this story.