NEW LAX CONCOURSE ON HORIZON.

Byline: ART MARROQUIN

Staff Writer

Los Angeles International Airport might soon build a new $2 billion concourse that will better accommodate supersize airliners, under a plan scheduled for consideration today by the City Council.

The council is poised to direct Los Angeles World Airports -- the city agency that operates LAX -- to move ahead with building 10 airline gates adjacent to Tom Bradley International Terminal, with room for future growth.

The plan also calls for installing a U.S. Customs and Border Protection screening system and a people-mover that would connect the new gates to the Bradley terminal.

It would take about four years to build the so-called Midfield Terminal, funded by airport revenues.

"Putting more contact gates on Bradley is a very smart move," said City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, whose 11th District includes LAX. "I'm focused on the Midfield Terminal as a long-range strategy, and we're looking forward to getting this going."

Mega-jumbo jets -- such as the Airbus A380 -- are scheduled to begin regular flights to LAX starting next year, but the airport only has two gates to accommodate the aircraft.

Airlines planning to use the Airbus A380 and other huge jetliners have questioned whether LAX will be ready to comfortably handle more than two at a time.

In response, Councilwoman Janice Hahn called for a study to determine whether the city should move ahead with plans to build more gates to accommodate the large-scale jets.

"Airlines are choosing their routes for the upcoming year, and some of them are beginning to choose other airports," Hahn said. "We needed to do something to show we're serious and fight for our share of the airline industry. We want their business and we don't want them to fly over us to other airports."

The idea of building a satellite concourse near the Bradley terminal has been around for several years and was allowed as part of a legal settlement two years ago.

The Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion, one of the groups the city settled with, supports the plan because it replaces efforts to build an entirely new facility near LAX, according to the group's president, Denny Schneider.

art.marroquin(at)dailybreeze.com

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