AARON KARP / WASHINGTON DC
Airlines to fund first stage of O'Hare growth, while LAX set to pick modernisation plan
Two of the USA's busiest airports are hopeful of putting years of political debate behind them and launching massive expansion projects.
The city of Chicago has reached a deal with more than 12 airlines to fund the first $2.9 billion of Chicago O'Hare airport's $6.6 billion expansion programme, and the Los Angeles city council is preparing to select one of five modernisation proposals for Los Angeles International airport (LAX).
Los Angeles mayor Jim Hahn this month unveiled his $9 billion plan for LAX expansion, adding it to four other alternatives. The city council is scheduled to decide which proposal to follow at a meeting on 25 August following a series of public hearings on the issue. Hahn's plan faces stiff opposition from most of the airlines that fly in to LAX.
In contrast, airlines using O'Hare - led by hub carriers American Airlines and United Airlines - have strongly supported the airport's expansion plan and have agreed to help finance the project. The O'Hare plan, agreed in late 2001 by city and Illinois state officials after years of political wrangling, calls for an eighth runway to be added and for three of the airport's seven runways to be relocated.
None of the five LAX plans calls for a new runway to be built. Hahn's plan would boost the airport's annual capacity to around 79 million passengers and around 3 million tonnes of cargo by 2015. Hahn says his plan, the 33rd LAX modernisation proposal presented over the past eight years, would be carried out over an 11-year period beginning in late 2004.
The mayor's plan calls for the demolition of three of the airport's eight terminals, and building a new central terminal in space now occupied by parking facilities. The plan also calls for adding taxiways to the airfield and lengthening two runways.
Source: Flight International
