Bids Sought to Expand Airport FlyAway Terminal

The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners on Tuesday asked builders to submit proposals to expand the Van Nuys Airport FlyAway bus terminal in hopes of making it more of a visitors’ hub.

The expansion has been endorsed for years by Valley business and tourist organizations calling for a first-class facility to accommodate travelers to and from commercial airlines at Los Angeles International Airport.

One proposal calls for setting up a U.S. Customs checkpoint at the FlyAway, relieving the station at LAX. Under the plan, international travelers could take a bus from LAX to the FlyAway and pass through customs there.

In addition to more parking, proposed expanded services would provide baggage handling, rental cars and shuttle service to area hotels, a foreign money exchange, a visitors and convention promotion center, a restaurant, and short-term office and meeting areas.

The project is estimated to cost $18.5 million.

The current facility provides parking for 1,900 cars and is quickly filled to capacity during holiday travel periods. Nearly 750,000 travelers use the terminal--a half-million increase since the facility opened in 1975.

The expansion calls for a new terminal building and another 500 to 700 public parking spaces at the 25-acre facility at 7610 Woodley Ave. Buses currently provide 98 round trips daily to LAX at a cost of $6 for adults and $3.50 for children ages 2 through 12. Calling the FlyAway “an important and convenient ground transportation resource,” Lydia H. Kennard, interim airports executive director, said in a statement Tuesday that the expansion “can only increase its usefulness and potential.”

Airport officials have placed the project on an accelerated schedule, with construction expected to begin in June 2001 and end in September 2002.

The expansion has been urged by Los Angeles Councilwoman Laura Chick, with the backing of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., San Fernando Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau and tenants at Van Nuys Airport.