Increase in LAX Parking Fees to Be Considered

Los Angeles airport commissioners tonight will consider sharp increases in the cost of parking at Los Angeles International Airport and decide if airport concessions will get nearly $9.5 million in rent relief because of the decline in business after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The price of self parking at garages in the LAX central terminal area would leap from $24 to $35 a day--an increase of almost 46%--under a proposal made public Monday by the city’s airport department.

If the commission agrees, the increase would be the second in a little more than a year. The board increased parking rates at LAX garages from $16 to $24 a day in October 2000. The proposed daily rate of $35 would be among the highest charged at major airports in the United States.

Hourly parking rates in the central terminal area also would climb dramatically from $1 for each 30 minutes now to $3 for the first hour and $2 for each additional half-hour if the new rates are adopted.

Rates in long-term parking lots B and C on the outskirts of the airport would rise $3 a day to $8 to $10 depending on the location. Parking fees for employees at LAX also would rise.

Rates at the popular FlyAway park-and-ride lot in Van Nuys would double from $2 to $4 a day. Daily parking rates at Ontario International Airport, which is owned by Los Angeles, would increase from $21 to $28 a day in the central terminal area. Fees for parking in lots 2, 3 and 4 also would rise. Short-term hourly rates generally would decrease.

The decline in air travel, combined with sharply higher costs for security, has left the airport with a gaping hole in its budget.

Airport spokesman Paul Haney could not estimate how much revenue the higher fees would generate. If approved, the increases would take effect after the start of the new year at a date to be determined.

Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX, Ontario, Van Nuys and Palmdale airports, is suffering from an unprecedented financial crisis triggered by the drop in passenger traffic since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

LAX, which has been the world’s third busiest airport, depends on revenues from parking lots, concessions, rental car companies and airlines for most of the money needed to operate the facility.

Meanwhile, airport businesses have been pressuring the administration of Mayor James K. Hahn, the City Council and the Airport Commission for millions of dollars in relief from rent payments.

The $9.47 million in rent reductions under consideration would eliminate requirements that concessionaires pay a guaranteed rent payment monthly, plus a percentage of sales above that in some cases. Instead, the rent would be based solely on a percentage of sales from October to December. Haney said he could not speculate about any further rent reductions into 2002.

Officials of the largest concessionaires at LAX, including Duty Free Shops, W.H. Smith and HMS Host Services, were all contributors to Hahn’s mayoral campaign.

Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook said there is absolutely no connection between the campaign contributions and the recommended rent reductions. He said the rent relief, which Hahn favors, is necessary to keep airport concessions from “going out of business.”

Middlebrook said the concessionaires, particularly smaller companies, have been significantly affected by the drop in air traffic.

The mayor also received campaign contributions from principals in the public relations firm of Winner & Associates, which is seeking a $1.5-million extension of its contract to publicize a master plan for airport expansion although the concept is being redone.

The Airport Commission will review a proposal to extend the three-year, $9-million public relations contract of Winner & Associates, which expires next week. During the mayoral campaign, company President Chuck Winner said he sponsored two fund-raisers for Hahn after the then-city attorney called and asked for help. Winner has said the fund-raisers had no connection to the firm’s contract.

Airport officials have been looking for new ways to boost revenues, including possible introduction of commercial advertising to passenger terminals, which also will be discussed tonight.