Bradley Terminal Renovation Keeps LAX Globally Competitive

City and LAWA leaders recently unveiled the renovation of the Tom Bradley International Terminal-a $737 million project that they say was completed on time and on budget. First, what was accomplished, and, second, was it really on time?

It is an important ingredient, given the fact that there had been no progress in updating and modernizing the facilities since it was designed in the late '70s, early '80s, and constructed in 1984. It was woefully in need of upgrades and enhancements to be modern and user-friendly for the airlines and the traveling public. It was absolutely a necessity. Infrastructure got improved. A lot of features within the building had worn out-elevators, escalators, jet bridges, and so forth-and needed enhancements and upgrades. We put in modern visual signage that makes it easier for passengers to understand where their flights are departing from, the gates and location of ticket counters, and the times the ticket counters open-all of that has made it a much more user-friendly facility. There are significant enhancements in lighting, so it's not as dark and dreary as it appeared the last several years.

Most important is the completion of a $130 million bag system that takes all of the TSA machinery and personnel out of the lobby; they occupied 40 percent of the public area. We retrieved 30 percent of that area now for public circulation and open space. All of that equipment is now housed in a separate building adjacent to the terminal building. A modern distribution system for luggage makes this a much more attractive building for our passengers and also for the airlines that work within the building.

Relative to the amount of time it took to plan, finance, and build this renovation, how well will LAX keep pace with competing global regional airports?

Competition amongst airports and cities for international travelers is something new to the Unites States that started to appear within the last five to eight years. Los Angeles was significantly behind from a timing standpoint. Most of our competitive cities finished upgrades to facilities in the late 1990s, early 2000s era. That's San Francisco, JFK, Miami, Dallas, and Atlanta. It's true that we were, and still are, behind in having a truly competitive international gateway city.

For the construction project-what the contractor and a team from the city and the airlines did was an outstanding effort. Indeed, the largest contract in the history of the city came in on scheduled time for the construction project.

What does this competition among airports mean for the regional economy and for the airline industry?

It's significant for the region. LAEDC published a report in August of 2007 about the value economically in terms of tax revenues and contributions to the local economy from spending and creation of jobs. They indicated that each international round trip flight from Los Angeles generated $623 million in economic impact to the local economy and sustained over 3,000 jobs on an annual basis. International tourism has a significant impact to a local economy, and other cities realize that as well. With that you see competition among cities for the limited resources that airlines have to deploy.

Within the last couple of years we've seen significant competition on the western side of the United States for the Pacific Rim. There are a number of airlines flying to San Francisco that five years ago had no service from San Francisco into the Pacific Rim. San Francisco, with their new facility, has aggressively marketed SFO's new international terminal building to the airline community. Within the last six months there has been notable attention by the mayor of San Francisco to an aggressive advertising campaign in Australia promoting San Francisco versus the "other city" and the "other airport" to lure Australians to San Francisco and Northern California.

Put in perspective this win-win for the city and the airport relative to the overall Master Plan execution for LAX. What phase is this?

It is certainly a win-win. It's important for the airlines that operate in and out of the Tom Bradley Terminal to move this project forward. It's important from the standpoint of the next generation of aircraft. As time has progressed, the airplanes are getting bigger and flying longer distances. With that we lose gates at the Tom Bradley building, which then requires more flights going to the remote gates. That means a bus trip and a less competitive product offering for the airlines as well as the customers.

Having a facility that has sufficient gates to accommodate the next generation of aircraft is important for the airlines. They know that as these new generational aircraft get delivered they can schedule flights to Los Angeles with confidence that the product offering on the ground will match what the airlines are providing their premium customers in flight. It's important to the customers. We get lots of feedback and the JD Power surveys indicate the negative reaction to being bused for a mile and a half from the remote gates into the Tom Bradley Terminal. The improvements will eliminate that bus trip when completed in 2012.

At one point there was a $10-13 billion infrastructure investment plan for the airport. Is that still the projection? What can LAWA afford to contribute to upgrading its facilities?

The airport is a freestanding organization within the city government, so it has to be self-sustaining. It can raise revenue bonds, but at the end of the day the sales to pull off those revenue bonds has to be revenue from the airport operations, concessionaires, airlines, or others that do business at the airport. It's important that people realize that this has no impact, either positively or negatively, to the Los Angeles city budget.

That said, there is a $13 billion Master Plan for improvements that should be accomplished over the next ten to 15 years or longer. Most immediately, Gina Marie Lindsey and her staff are focused on a package that's somewhere in the neighborhood of $5.5-6 billion and could be accomplished between now and 2015, based upon the revenues and the borrowing capacity of LAWA and the ability to get government funds from the passenger facility charge or through airport improvement bonds that are available for airports. I'd have to defer to Gina Marie Lindsey as to how she works on some of the priorities that are associated with that.

The Bradley Terminal is a LEED Silver certified airport project. This is valued by the public, but is it valued by the airlines, or is it just an added cost to be subsidized?

It's a plus. LEED was a requirement that was added at the very end of the design phase just before construction started. The contractor, as well as the design team, had to make a lot of changes on the fly as the project was going along. But we were able to do so and still bring the project in under budget, so it was certainly no extra cost. At the same time, the airline community as a whole is looking at how they also can contribute a more positive impact on the economy and reduce their carbon footprint in the community that they serve and around the airport, whether it's different types of bio-jet fuel or the use of electrical ground equipment. Strategically it's something that they want to do, and from a cost standpoint it's been one that they've implemented without impact to the cost of doing business.

What grade would you give to the LAX Bradley Terminal construction team?

The team did an outstanding job. It was the largest contract in the history of the city of Los Angeles when it was awarded. It was a very collaborative process. The contractor was a joint venture between Clark and McCarthy constructions companies. They really came together and did an outstanding job of working with all the major stakeholders, getting buy-in, and making sure people understood the process. There was good communication and good coordination for the project.

Likewise, the city departments, the city project management team, and Parsons, which was the program manager, were very effective in making sure the airlines were a part of the process. During periods of major disruption-we had typically five to six major areas under construction, as much as 20 percent of the building was out of service at any time when we're continuing to operate-they did an effective job of working with us to mitigate the impact to airlines and to the flying public. We have nothing but compliments for the entire team.

There are few better to be interviewed by TPR/MIR about the quality and impact of this project than you, who represents the international carriers. Does the Bradley Terminal now compete with the airports in Germany, Japan, and around the globe? What must LAWA do to truly be competitive as an international destination?

As Gina Marie and LAWA have stated, it's a good and necessary first step, but it is just that: a first step. It demonstrates that we've stepped out of a decade where there was nothing but debate taking place to having a project in place. That demonstrates good faith and good will to improve the international airport and the arrival and departure experience at LAX. It sets the foundation for the next project, which will provide a facility to compete with Singapore and Hong Kong and many of the others around the world.

The next project is an expedited project, with a completion date, at least for many of the major elements, of December of 2012. The rest of the project will come online by the middle of 2013. It's very aggressive. The city is committed to it and the mayor is committed to it.

When that's completed, LAWA will move to other improvements and modernization programs for the other terminal buildings as well as dealing with the ground congestion and the connection between the terminal buildings. Almost 40 percent of the passengers who arrive at the Tom Bradley make connections to other terminal buildings, and the ease of that connection experience, as well as the experience at those other terminal buildings, needs to be positive.

How competitive is San Francisco?

We're slightly behind San Francisco in terms of our facility offering and will be until the TBIT West project is completed. At least for the time being, we have a vision. We have demonstrated action; people can see construction taking place. They had the advantage of having completed their renovation of their international terminal building in 2002.

How financially healthy are the international airline carriers today?

Fragile, as is the global economy. It's clearly a reflection of the global economy, for not only the business travelers, who are the main ingredient, but also travelers for pleasure and tourism. Last year was one of the worst years in the history of international aviation. This year is not going to be as bad, and we're forecasting an improvement. With a strong U.S. dollar we're seeing some people travel but not as many people coming into the country that we had two or three years ago.

If we speak a year from now about LAX, what will you be highlighting?

We'll be talking about the finalization and the implementation of the TBIT West project. It'll be 50 percent toward completion. The other element that would be there is that LAWA has made progress in concession award contracts around the airport. LAWA will also have developed additional plans for enhancing some of the other terminal buildings as well as the ground transportation around the airport.