Hahn Plan Shifts LAX Burden to Other Cities

In putting together his $9.6-billion modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport, Mayor James K. Hahn has in effect declared to other political leaders around Southern California that much of the region’s need to handle millions more passengers and tons of additional freight in coming years will have to be solved somewhere else.

But the plan faces two major problems. Right now, there is no place else--all other airports in the region face limits on their ability to grow. And Hahn lacks the authority to force airlines to change the number or the mix of planes that they schedule into LAX’s gates.

Hahn’s solution has been to design a plan that simply has no room for more planes. Some say the design may discourage passengers from using LAX.

“If you make it so lengthy or onerous to go through those checkpoints, part of the message is to go to Burbank or Long Beach or John Wayne,” said Steven Erie, a UC San Diego political science professor who is writing a book about the region’s infrastructure.

“This whole thing about an elevated train and Manchester Square is partly just to encourage people who are taking international flights--they’re willing to put up with an additional hour or two wait. But the short-haul traveler won’t do that.”

Hahn built political capital for his plan, announced at an airport ceremony Tuesday, in large part by promising former expansion opponents that he would limit the nation’s third-busiest airport to 78 million passengers a year. The airport served 61 million passengers in 2001--52% more than its intended capacity.

The passenger limit convinced El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon, who led opposition to former Mayor Richard Riordan’s $12-billion LAX expansion plan, to stand with a group of supporters flanking Hahn when he unveiled his proposal.

The mayor’s plan, first outlined in the weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, emphasizes security and safety over expansion. It would entail a dramatic reworking of the airport, including the demolition of four terminals, new transportation facilities to the east of the airport and the removal of all cars in the central terminal area.

Hahn faces an uphill battle to turn his promise into reality. No other airport in the country has successfully limited passenger capacity. And efforts by some to artificially constrain growth backfired, prompting airlines to leave the area, taking jobs with them.

“The only other airport to cut gates was Denver,” said Michael Boyd, a Denver-based airline consultant. “They opened at Denver International Airport with 25 fewer gates than they had at Stapleton and they lost a carrier because of it.”

Continental Airlines pulled out of Denver International Airport because the limited number of gates made landing fees unaffordable, Boyd said.

Hahn hopes to limit capacity in part by encouraging the airlines to take commuter flights to airports in Long Beach, Ontario, Burbank and Orange County. But many who were briefed on his plan before Tuesday’s announcement are asking how the mayor will persuade airlines, which set their own flight schedules, to move service out of LAX.

“The key ingredient to keeping the cap on is regionalization,” said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice). “But what I want to see is more tangible evidence that this regionalization is going to get as much attention and focus and support as changes at LAX.”

Agencies that run the regional airports aren’t likely to help Hahn: Politicians in Long Beach and Orange County have made it clear that they are not willing to do away with rules that limit capacity at their facilities. And even if there were the political will to open the airports to business from LAX, there are already airlines standing in line to use the facilities.

John Wayne Airport could grow slightly in the next few years, according to a limited expansion plan approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors last week. It would allow 1.4 million more passengers to use the airport each year starting Jan. 1. A federal court must still approve the agreement--which would increase the passenger load at the facility from 8.4 million to 9.8 million passengers a year.

Even if the plan is approved, the airport already has a waiting list of 10 carriers that have requested permission to start service, said Ann McCarley, an airport representative.

At Long Beach Airport, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines are negotiating with the city for more room at the Art Deco facility. Space at Long Beach is scarce because of a noise compatibility ordinance that limits the number of commercial takeoffs to 41 per day. Upstart JetBlue Airlines has the rights to the remainder of the spaces at the airport, an agreement that American says violates state and federal law.

Even areas where residents and politicians have said they would welcome new air service, such as Ontario, face major hurdles to accepting more flights. California Air Resources Board restrictions limit Ontario, where the mayor’s office hopes to shift a large proportion of LAX’s cargo load, to 12 million passengers a year.

City officials say they can shift traffic to Ontario by eliminating places for aircraft to park at LAX and by reconfiguring gates for larger aircraft--a move, they add, that would entice airlines to take smaller, commuter jets to regional facilities.

But that plan wouldn’t work, industry experts say, because airlines have spent decades building a carefully orchestrated system at LAX that uses small jets to feed larger airplanes traveling to international destinations.

“LAX has developed over 40 years the greatest fleet mix of any airport in the country--it has everything from the biggest jumbo freighters to 19-seat commuters,” said Roger Cohen, managing director of state and local affairs for the Air Transport Assn., an airline trade group. “For the airport to dictate where these planes go would be controverting 40 years of history.”

Airline representatives agreed, saying they rely on commuter flights to support medium- and long-haul domestic flights and international service. In fact, the passengers who get on international flights from commuter aircraft are often those who make the service profitable, said Alan Wayne, a spokesman for United Airlines.

Getting the airlines to approve the plan will be key for Hahn because carriers would pay for about half the renovation through higher rent and landing fees. The remainder of construction funding would come from a $1.50 fee added to passenger tickets, from federal transportation funds and from bonds financed by income from airport concessionaires.

City officials hope to complete the plan in phases over 10 years. It will take two years for the city to finish environmental studies, hold public hearings and present the plan to the Airport Commission, the City Council and the Federal Aviation Administration. Each must approve the plan before construction can begin.

Before the plan even reaches that review stage, city officials must also figure out how they will transfer more than 1 million tons of cargo a year away to other airports. LAX is the world’s third-busiest cargo airport in the world, handling about 2.5 million tons of freight a year. Hahn’s plan would allow for about 3 million tons a year--about 1.2 million less than previous expansion plans.

Airport Commission President Ted Stein said officials plan to encourage airlines to take cargo that doesn’t come in the belly of aircraft--about 50% of the freight that goes through LAX--to other regional facilities, possibly in Ontario or Palmdale.

But Ontario is able to handle only about 500,000 tons a year now, and Palmdale has no commercial airline service.

It’s also not clear how moving cargo from LAX would affect traffic, and thus air quality, in the Southland.

As much as 80% of the cargo that comes into the airport is destined for Southern California, airport officials say.

The question is where this freight ultimately needs to end up and if it would ultimately need to be trucked from Ontario or Palmdale back to Los Angeles.