Hahn's Plan Could Get FAA Approval This Month

The FAA will likely approve this month LA Mayor Jim Hahn's $11 billion plan to improve Los Angeles International Airport. If it does, Hahn could break ground on the project as early as this fall.

"We’re waiting for a record of decision from the FAA to really promulgate and consummate the project," City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who helped draft the revised plan, told the Los Angeles Business Journal.

But predictions of smooth sailing for the renovation apparently haven't reached Washington. FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown told the Journal,  "The federal record of decision does not constitute implementation of the project. "The final decision to go ahead fundamentally is a local decision."

The revised project calls for reconfiguration of the airport's southern runways, an intermodal rail system connecting the airport with the city's subway and a consolidated rental car facility.

But the cornerstones of Hahn's project -- tearing down Terminals One, Two and Three, a remote check-in facility at Manchester Square and shutting down the airport's parking garage are on hold, pending further review and environmental impact studies.

FMI: www.lawa.org