In putting together his $9.6-billion modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport, Mayor James K. Hahn has in effect declared to other political leaders around Southern California that much of the region's need to handle millions more passengers and tons of additional freight in coming years will have to be solved somewhere else.
But the plan faces two major problems. Right now, there is no place else--all other airports in the region face limits on their ability to grow. And Hahn lacks the authority to force airlines to change the number or the mix of planes that they schedule into LAX's gates.
Hahn's solution has been to design a plan that simply has no room for more planes. Some say the design may discourage passengers from using LAX.
"If you make it so lengthy or onerous to go through those checkpoints, part of the message is to go to Burbank or Long Beach or John Wayne," said Steven Erie, a UC San Diego political science professor who is writing a book about the region's infrastructure.
"This whole thing about an elevated train and Manchester Square is partly just to encourage people who are taking international flights--they're willing to put up with an additional hour or two wait. But the short-haul traveler won't do that."
Hahn built political capital for his plan, announced at an airport ceremony Tuesday, in large part by promising former expansion opponents that he would limit the nation's third-busiest airport to 78 million passengers a year. The airport served 61 million passengers in 2001--52% more than its intended capacity.
The passenger limit convinced El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon, who led opposition to former Mayor Richard Riordan's $12-billion LAX expansion plan, to stand with a group of supporters flanking Hahn when he unveiled his proposal.
The mayor's plan, first outlined in the weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, emphasizes security and safety over expansion. It would entail a dramatic reworking of the airport, including the demolition of four terminals, new transportation facilities to the east of the airport and the removal of all cars in the central terminal area.
Hahn faces an uphill battle to turn his promise into reality. No other airport in the country has successfully limited passenger capacity. And efforts by some to artificially constrain growth backfired, prompting airlines to leave the area, taking jobs with them.
