Money for Airport Consultants OKd

Without debate, Los Angeles airport commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved paying $1.1 million to a team of consultants for one month’s work on Mayor James K. Hahn’s master plan to modernize Los Angeles International Airport.

The city has already spent more than $100 million on various plans to update LAX.

But earlier proposals, which were developed under then-Mayor Richard Riordan, were opposed by residents and communities near the airport.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Hahn ordered a new approach at LAX that emphasizes security rather than expansion of the airport.

Hahn’s plan, which is estimated to cost $9.6 billion, would eliminate all parking garages in the Central Terminal Area and construct a passenger check-in and baggage-screening facility near the San Diego Freeway.

That complex would be linked to the terminals by an automated people-mover.

The new plan also envisions improvements to terminals, gates, runways and taxiways to accommodate up to 78 million passengers annually and the next generation of jumbo jets.

An updated environmental impact report on the project is scheduled to be released within several months.

A representative of Los Angeles City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski expressed concern about the cost of extending contracts with URS Corp. and Camp Dresser & McKee Inc. through March. But the commission approved the expenditure 5-0.