LAX Revamp May Be Costly for Airlines

Airlines might pay about four times more to use Los Angeles International Airport if the city proceeds with the first phase of a proposed modernization plan, according to figures released Thursday.

The cost of doing business at LAX for carriers today is $5.85 for each departing passenger, one of the lowest rates in the nation. Preliminary estimates show that the cost could jump to $22 per passenger in the next decade, putting LAX in the middle range among airports. Under the proposal, 25% to 50% of the project’s cost must be paid by the airlines through increased landing fees and terminal rents.

The estimates were revealed as the Los Angeles City Council’s commerce committee voted 3 to 0 to recommend that the full council approve the plan. On Wednesday, the council’s planning committee did the same, on a 2-1 vote.

The 15-member council, which must muster 10 votes to pass the long-debated proposal, will review the plan Oct. 19.

The increase in costs per passenger provides the first look at how a plan devised by Mayor James K. Hahn and Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski might affect the cash-strapped airlines, which last week endorsed the proposal.

The city’s airport agency -- Los Angeles World Airports -- revealed the numbers at the Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing in response to questions from council members about Los Angeles’ ability to finance the modernization work.

“We’re very affordable now,” said Karen Sisson, chief financial officer for the airport agency. “I think carriers would have the capacity to increase this and still be competitive.”

Airline representatives, who said they had asked repeatedly for cost estimates, were taken by surprise.

“We haven’t heard anything,” said Robert Dibblee, a managing director for the Air Transport Assn., an airline trade group. “We will continue to push” for details.

The discussion was the latest hearing on Hahn’s LAX proposal. The city has spent 10 years and $130 million trying to devise a way to remodel the world’s fifth-busiest airport. LAX received its last face-lift in preparation for the 1984 Olympics.

Under the proposal, the first phase of work would include a new transit hub, rental car center and people mover. Also, the southernmost runway would be moved 50 feet closer to El Segundo to help prevent near-misses. That phase is estimated to cost $3 billion.

The higher fees charged to airlines would help pay for that work, for modernization of the Tom Bradley International Terminal and for mitigating noise, air and traffic impacts. Finally, they would help fund projects requested by the community.

Sisson, the airport agency’s finance director, emphasized that the estimates are “very preliminary” and said that she expects them to change in the next year as more details become available. She said it was hard to predict costs when the projects hadn’t been designed yet.

Airport officials reassured the committee that the project would not require money from the city’s general fund.

“This entire project will be built with a combination of revenue generated on the airport and funds we get from the federal government,” said Kim Day, the airport agency’s interim executive director.

Also on Thursday, Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, a candidate for mayor, said he doesn’t support Hahn’s plan and asked Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton to provide a “meaningful estimate of the costs.”

The mayor’s aides said they were optimistic that Thursday’s vote would help them stick to an ambitious schedule that aims for a final council vote by Dec. 14.

“We’re looking forward to the plan moving to the council,” said Tim McOsker, Hahn’s chief of staff.

Times staff writer Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.