The small turboprop airplanes used by airlines to fly to smaller cities throughout the state may soon be banned from pulling up to the main gates at Los Angeles International Airport.
Instead, the smaller airplanes will have to park at new facilities several hundred feet away from the terminals and passengers would be bused to and from the main building.
The city's Board of Airport Commissioners gave approval Tuesday for the airport to develop a plan relocating commuter airplanes somewhere beyond the airport's eight terminals. After the study, it should take about 1 1/2 years to make the transition, officials said.
At the airport, one of every three planes is a commuter craft that carries 20 to 50 passengers, but such flights accounted for only 2.6 million of the 58 million passengers who used the airport last year.
The board's decision was welcomed by some airlines that have wanted to add more jet flights but couldn't find a free gate. It was bad news for large airlines that have a fleet of small planes to serve smaller cities.
However, airport officials say this is the best way to handle the burgeoning air traffic that makes Los Angeles International one of the busiest airports in the world. Other air facilities such as San Diego International Airport and Denver International Airport already have special commuter terminals. Washington National Airport is planning to build a nine-gate commuter airline terminal to serve USAirways Express.
At the Los Angeles airport, the main problem is smaller planes getting boxed in by bigger airplanes and vice versa, which results in delays getting out of the gates and onto the runways.
"It's a little like rush-hour traffic on the freeway with everyone trying to get on the same freeway at the same time," said Michael DiGirolamo, director of airport operations. "We're trying to spread it out. It is also for passengers' convenience. You don't want to sit on a plane for 30 to 45 minutes waiting to get to the runway for a 20-minute flight."
The plan was met with open arms by Southwest Airlines, which has 119 flights a day out of the airport and wants to add more planes but can't because of a gate shortage, said John Chaussee, the airline's senior property manager. Southwest has no small commuter planes flying out of the airport.
But the idea to bus commuter passengers to a remote terminal did not please companies such as American Airlines.
