April 26, 2004

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn has recently advanced a $9 billion dollar plan to transform the city's international airport from what press reports say is a vulnerable facility into a model high'security airport.

The plan has drawn strong opposition from a variety of sources and needs approval from the city council and also from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Hahn, for his part, says he wanted to come up with a design that, no matter what the threat level is, whether orange or red, which ever level happens, the airport doesn't have to change.

A Washington Post business section article April 9 detailed both the plan itself and the emerging coalition of opposition from various sources that confront the mayor.

Not unusually, the plan's component that would eliminate vehicular traffic that would cancel curbside drop-off and passenger pickup ignited opposition in what The Post says is a "vehicular obsessed" city.

Passengers would, instead, get on a people mover a mile from the airport to get to the main terminal. Opponents contend the outlying building, Manchester Square, would inconvenience travelers and expose LAX to unnamed threats.

The international airport is of significant economic importance connecting the west coast to Asia. Since 9/11, a serious of incidents including shooting and detention of terrorists planning to blow up the airport have taken place. City officials worry that the airport is vulnerable to a possible truck bombing.

Almost all of the 80 airlines using the airport oppose Hahn's proposal saying it limits growth, creates hassles for passengers and passes on to them more construction and security costs. Carriers would pay for most of the project through leases for terminal gates and increased landing fees.

Central focus of the opposition is eliminating Manchester Square. Hahn says the concept of a remote drop-off area is similar to Dulles International and Denver International Airports.

Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the airport has spent more than $10 million in security, a situation experienced by many other airports, not to mention cities and other entities such as port authorities and counties.

Hahn's timetable includes approval (or rejection) by his city council this fall before the project's construction.

The mayor's plan is being scrutinized by security experts and the fact that experts say the proposal — if approved — would influence a new wave of security designs at other airports around the country.