EDITORIAL THE LAX CHALLENGE VILLARAIGOSA MUST BLOCK HAHN'S AIRPORT PLAN QUICKLY.

LOS Angeles' outgoing mayor, James Hahn, won't be getting a second term, but he may still get his massive airport expansion - an $11 billion parting gift for the special interests that bankrolled his lackluster political career.

Last Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration approved Hahn's long sought ``modernization'' scheme for Los Angeles International Airport, even though Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa opposes it.

And it's not just Villaraigosa. Most everyone opposes Hahn's LAX plan - the airlines, independent analysts, airport neighbors, dozens of communities far from LAX and anyone who has to drive the already unbearable 405 Freeway.

Everyone, that is, except for the contractors and unions that stand to make a fortune on this needless and overpriced exercise in municipal excess.

There is widespread agreement about what LAX needs - reconfiguring the south airstrip, transportation enhancements, a consolidated car-rental center. But what Hahn has proposed goes far beyond what's needed, or wanted.

Hahn seeks a massive off-site check-in facility, purportedly in the name of safety, even though the Rand Corp. says the centralized facility would be a terror magnet. His plan also includes increased capacity that could allow the airport to expand its annual intake by millions of travelers a year, compounding local traffic problems and effectively destroying the long-standing dream of a truly regional airport system.

These controversial elements face widespread opposition, which is why Hahn has maneuvered to approve the plan so deceptively. First, he convinced the council to sign off on a complete LAX environmental impact report - thus approving all of the plan, with the empty promise that the objectionable parts would be re-evaluated later.

And now he's pressured the FAA into signing off on the same flawed logic. But once all the bureaucratic obstacles have been cleared and the special interests mobilized, it will be very difficult to stop the whole of Hahn's plan from taking effect.

Still, there is some hope.

Villaraigosa was elected, in part, on his pledge to stop LAX expansion. And City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who engineered the phony airport compromise, has been term-limited out of office and will be replaced on the council by expansion opponent Bill Rosendahl.

FAA authorization is not the same thing as a mandate. The city still can - and must - block Hahn's airport-expansion designs from taking effect.

It's hard to think of a better way for a Mayor Villaraigosa to start his administration than to take a stand against traffic congestion, poor planning and the powerful influence of special interests. Defeating Hahn wasn't enough. Villaraigosa must defeat one of the worst elements of Hahn's legacy.