LAX WANTS TO BUY 2 TERMINALS.

Byline: DOUG IRVING Staff Writer

Los Angeles airport commissioners set aside more than $150 million Monday to buy back two terminals at LAX as a way to alleviate crowding.

A handful of airlines have controlled those and other terminals for decades, blocking the ability of competitors -- including low-cost carriers -- to expand. That's why Southwest Airlines shoehorns all of its flights into Terminal 1, while United Airlines is able to spreads its operations across three separate terminals.

The commission's action escalates a behind-the-scenes battle between city-owned Los Angeles International Airport and some of its airlines over the use of their terminals. It also clears the way for the airport to charge much-higher rents at Terminals 2 and 5 once it takes them over.

Los Angeles World Airport officials also made it clear they intend to gain control over other terminals, with Chief Financial Officer Karl Pan saying the agency expects ``much more efficient use of the facilities here at the airport.''

For travelers, that would most likely mean more flights as bottled-up airlines such as Southwest get a chance to expand. In theory, LAX can accommodate millions more passengers a year before it runs afoul of a legal agreement with its neighbors to cap its growth.

For now, the airport agency intends to buy back Terminal 5, which houses Delta Airlines, and Terminal 2, which has Northwest Airlines and a number of international carriers.

The airlines have left open the possibility of a lawsuit to stop the move.

Those airlines were given long-term leases in the mid-1980s after they paid for costly improvements to their terminals by issuing bonds. LAWA believes it has the right to buy out those leases by paying off what remains of those bonds.

That comes to an estimated $55 million, including interest, for Terminal 5, and $99 million for Terminal 2. The airport commission voted 6-0 on Monday to use cash and credit to pay those expenses.

The agency intends to lease back at least part of the terminals to the current tenants -- but at much higher rates. Those higher rents will help offset some of the acquisition costs.

Doug Blissit, Delta's vice president of corporate real estate, complained that the airline had just expanded flights between LAX and Mexico and Central America, and said the commission's move might jeopardize its plans.

``We don't know what the rental rates are going to be. We don't know what our (terminal space) is going to be,'' he said.

Representatives of the airlines also said they had received no official notice that the commission was about to vote on taking over their terminals. Pan, of the airport agency, said there had been plenty of indication over the years that it was moving in that direction.

doug.irving(at)dailybreeze.com

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