ORAC
20th Apr 2005, 09:21
$20 million in changes to allow Airbus at LAX
By Associated Press
About $20 million in short-term improvements will be made at Los Angeles International Airport to prepare for the double-deck, 555-passenger Airbus A380.
The jetliner makes its first test flight later this month, but an airport official told the Board of Airport Commissioners on Monday that it wasn't clear whether the work would be completed in time because of uncertain construction schedules.
Commissioners approved spending up to $8.3 million to rebuild five intersections on the south airfield so they can handle the enormous wheelbase of the plane, which dwarfs the Boeing 747. Eleven more intersections will be reconfigured in a second phase of the project......
Commissioners also voted to look for companies that can provide the passenger boarding bridges required to fill and unload the A380s lower and upper decks. The airport intends to buy eight of the $800,000 bridges.
Two Tom Bradley Terminal gates must be renovated before the bridges can be installed. This work, which will cost an estimated $7 million, will include enlarging one of the gates, reconfiguring aircraft parking patterns and relocating fuel pits.
Overall A380-related spending at Los Angeles International Airport will include $28 million improving intersections, $10 million on Bradley Terminal gates and passenger holding rooms, $12.5 million on remote gates and $2.25 million reinforcing the Sepulveda Tunnel, airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles said.....
LAX can currently handle the A380 but at great inconvenience. Air traffic controllers would have to freeze other traffic on the southern runway complex. The giant aircraft would also be restricted to using a couple of taxiways and would have to be parked at remote gates.
By Associated Press
About $20 million in short-term improvements will be made at Los Angeles International Airport to prepare for the double-deck, 555-passenger Airbus A380.
The jetliner makes its first test flight later this month, but an airport official told the Board of Airport Commissioners on Monday that it wasn't clear whether the work would be completed in time because of uncertain construction schedules.
Commissioners approved spending up to $8.3 million to rebuild five intersections on the south airfield so they can handle the enormous wheelbase of the plane, which dwarfs the Boeing 747. Eleven more intersections will be reconfigured in a second phase of the project......
Commissioners also voted to look for companies that can provide the passenger boarding bridges required to fill and unload the A380s lower and upper decks. The airport intends to buy eight of the $800,000 bridges.
Two Tom Bradley Terminal gates must be renovated before the bridges can be installed. This work, which will cost an estimated $7 million, will include enlarging one of the gates, reconfiguring aircraft parking patterns and relocating fuel pits.
Overall A380-related spending at Los Angeles International Airport will include $28 million improving intersections, $10 million on Bradley Terminal gates and passenger holding rooms, $12.5 million on remote gates and $2.25 million reinforcing the Sepulveda Tunnel, airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles said.....
LAX can currently handle the A380 but at great inconvenience. Air traffic controllers would have to freeze other traffic on the southern runway complex. The giant aircraft would also be restricted to using a couple of taxiways and would have to be parked at remote gates.