"It's valuable real estate," said Kelly Martin, LAWA's attorney. "We've already had several expressions of interest from people who are interested in using those gates."
United also will give up the customs facility in Terminal 7, allowing the airport to charge higher customs fees to airlines. The settlement also ends a four-year dispute over United's use of gates in Terminal 8 for small commuter planes.
Before 2005, those planes used a small remote terminal on the eastern edge of the airport. Passengers had to take a bus to get to the terminal, increasing their travel times.
Having recently declared bankruptcy, United consolidated its operations at LAX in 2005 and moved the propeller planes to Terminal 8.
That was more convenient for passengers, but airport officials claimed that United was stifling competition and contributing to overcrowding at the airport.
If United had given up its gates at Terminal 8, its competitors would have been eager to expand. The dispute wound up in front of a bankruptcy judge, with LAWA demanding that United return to the vacated remote terminal, and United demanding repayment for its rental costs at the shuttered facility.
Under the settlement announced Monday, United will be allowed to keep its propeller planes at Terminal 8 - but only at the gates closest to the street.
Passengers must walk across the tarmac to board the smaller airplanes. Airport officials feared that if commuter planes were boarded closer to the runways, passengers could be blown off their feet by jet engines of passing planes.
Airport officials said the agreement would help end years of rancor with United.
(The Daily Breeze)
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