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Los Angeles Airport Settles Expansion Lawsuit

Posted on: Friday, 2 December 2005, 21:00 CST

By Mason Stockstill, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Calif.

Dec. 2--ONTARIO -- In the latest move toward increasing air traffic at Ontario International Airport, the city of Los Angeles announced Thursday the settlement of a lawsuit challenging expansion plans for Los Angeles International Airport.

The settlement paves the way for limited renovation work to go forward at LAX, but scraps portions of the plan that had called for off-site baggage check-in and passenger screening.

Additionally, Los Angeles World Airports -- the city agency that operates both LAX and ONT -- will work toward encouraging more passenger and cargo traffic at airports other than LAX.

"The future of LAX impacts a vast region that extends far beyond the airport fence," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has said previously he wants airports in Southern California other than LAX to bear a larger share of the region's air traffic. Community groups and cities near LAX had fought vociferously against plans to increase traffic there.

ONT is already LAWA's second-busiest airport and among the top choices for air travelers coming to Southern California who don't fly into LAX. Officials anticipate it will handle 7 million passengers this year, compared to 8 million for John Wayne Airport in Orange County and more than 60 million at LAX.

Regional planners at the Southern California Association of Governments anticipate ONT will handle up to 30 million passengers annually by 2030. Plans to lengthen runways and install a third terminal at ONT are expected to be finalized in 2007.

Southern California planners have long envisioned ONT as the leading candidate to handle traffic overflow from LAX, especially after plans were scuttled for an airport at the shuttered El Toro Marine base in Orange County.

Jennifer Dakoske Koslu, president of the Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion, said the settlement is a step in the right direction.

"Most important, the agreement constrains capacity at LAX, and sets the stage for a regional plan to tackle the problem of Southern California's air commerce over-reliance on LAX," she said.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

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