LAWA director seeks to reverse decades of LAX underinvestment

Legislation that would see an increase in the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) could help fund expansion of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and reverse decades of underinvestment, according to Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA).

She added that airport authorities themselves must have the right to raise the PFC independently, and floated the possibility of a concession for car parking at LAX as one among many methods of generating extra income.

The 2009 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act, passed by the House of Representatives in May, contains a clause that increases the PFC – a fee passengers pay for airports – from USD4.50 to USD7 for the period 2010-12.

The bill is now under consideration by a US Senate committee.

Speaking exclusively to Jane's , Lindsey argued in favour of an even higher PFC cap: "I would definitely like to see it up to USD7.50. Some other airports are in similar situations but I don't think there's another airport in the United States that's in the dire situation LAX is. There has been 30 years of really no investment in our facilities. That was because we were always going to have another masterplan, so we didn't want to pour money into existing facilities. But time passed without the masterplan, so we now have facilities that are falling apart."