Airlines will appeal ban OK in dogfight over landing fees.

But they seek compromise with LAX on user charges

The Air Transport Association of America, the trade group that represents the major airlines, said last week it will appeal a court ruling upholding Los Angeles' right to ban airlines that do not pay new user fees at Los Angeles International Airport.

Meanwhile, airline officials said they had sought a compromise on the controversial issue of new LAX user fees but the proposal was rejected by the city.

Last week, following a court victory by the city in the ongoing dispute, one airline official said the carriers are still open to a compromise that would include user fees higher than the old ones but considerably lower than the new charges instituted at LAX on July 1.

But again the city is apparently unwilling to negotiate.

Jack Driscoll, executive director of the Los Angeles Department of Airports, said the city would not consider a compromise and is standing by its decision to triple the so-called landing fees from 52 cents to $1.56 for every 1,000 pounds of landed aircraft weight.

Airline officials said the carriers would be willing to consider fees in the 65 cents to 80 cents range. They also said they would continue to protest the new fees by paying the old rates at least until a decision on the pending appeal is made.

A spokesman for Washington, D.C.-based ATA said the group would seek an expedited appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals and would ask for a decision by Friday, Nov. 5.

Last week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Judge A. Wallace Tashima refused an ATA request to issue a temporary restraining order barring the city agency from carrying out its threat to ban carriers that do not pay the new fees. The judge also indicated he likely would dismiss an ATA-led lawsuit by 44 international and domestic carriers that use LAX challenging the new fees. All of the major passenger and cargo carriers that use LAX are part of the suit.

A hearing on the lawsuit itself will be held in early December. The decision the airlines will appeal concerns the judge's refusal of a restraining order against the possible ban.

The airlines have opposed the new landing fees because they claim their sole purpose is to create a surplus that could then be diverted to the city's general fund, a proposal favored by Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan to pay for more police and other services. The Board of Airport Commissioners, the citizens panel that oversees operations of the airport department, has said landing fees have not been raised for decades and the new LAX rates puts the facility's fees in line with other major international airports'.

John Rowe, senior attorney for Phoenix-based America West airlines, said the carriers had sought a compromise on the landing fees weeks ago but it was rejected by the city.

"Since then there has been no further discussion about it but I would say that it (a compromise) is always an option," he said.

Chris Chiames, an ATA spokesman, said the organization again raised the issue of a compromise last week. "We made an offer that we thought was acceptable but it was rejected," he said.

Driscoll said the city has no interest in negotiating a compromise rate with the airlines.

"What's going to happen now is up to the airlines. The ball is in their court to pay the new rates or appeal the decision. We're absolutely not interested in a compromise," he said.

Driscoll said the city, which owns and operates the airport, is standing by its threat to deny access to airlines that do not pay the new fees.

Since the updated rates went into effect, about 60 of the airport's 75 airline users have refused to pay the new rates and instead have paid their monthly user bills at the old rate. So far, the city has not denied airport access to any carrier.

Bryan Enarson, chairman of the Airlines-Airport Affairs Committee, said based on LAX's operating budget, the fees should be in the 65 cents to 80 cents range. The Airlines-Airport Affairs Committee is a group of major airlines that use LAX.

"We believe the fees have been artificially inflated in order to establish a surplus of revenue that eventually may be used outside of the airport," he said. "Whether that is going to happen anytime soon is not the point.

"The point is that landing fees should only be set at levels that are needed to operate the airport and nothing else. The city shouldn't be setting up a surplus at the expense of the airlines," said Enarson.

He is an official of San Diego-based USAir but said he was making his comments as chairman of the AAAC and not as an executive of the carrier.

Federal regulations prohibit the use of commercial airport revenue for anything other than airport operations. The city is trying to get those regulations changed but so far has not been successful and there are increasing signals from Washington that current Federal Aviation Administration rules will not be altered any time soon.