Dive Brief:

• Fluor Corporation announced last week that its LAX Integrated Express Solutions (LINXS) joint venture has been selected by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) to design-build, finance, operate and maintain the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) automated people mover (APM), according to a statement from Fluor. The total contract amount has previously been reported to be as high as $2.7 billion.
• This will be the first public-private partnership (P3) for LAWA, according to Fluor officials. The 2.25-mile APM will include a total of six stations — three that connect parking, a rental car center and the Metro to airport terminals and three that connect the Central terminal to other airline terminals.   
• The 30-year APM contract is part of the $5.5 billion Landside Access Modernization Program (LAMP) and is expected to begin design and construction this year with completion scheduled for 2023.

Dive Insight:

Along with the APM, the LAMP initiative also includes the addition of two new transit hubs with intermodal transportation options, a consolidated rental car facility, a new Metro station and a possible extension of the Metro Green Line. In July, however, a parking lot operator filed a lawsuit under the state's California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in an attempt to stop progress on the LAMP project claiming that the environmental review was insufficient. This is not good news for the APM or other LAMP projects as CEQA suits are infamous for taking a very long time to resolve.

During the past few years, airports around the country have either announced modernization programs or have started construction on them, many under P3s. Three of those projects are in the New York City Metro area.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey entered into a $4 billion P3 with LaGuardia Gateway Partners (LGP) for the replacement of the airport's Central Terminal B. LGP designed and financed the project and is now in the construction phase. Under the P3 agreement, LGP will also operate the terminal after it opens.

Delta is also building a $4 billion terminal at LaGuardia, and while the Port Authority is contributing some money, the airline is financing more than $3 billion of the costs.

Still in the planning phases is another New York City airport overhaul, and that is the $10 billion redevelopment of John F. Kennedy International Airport. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other project officials have hinted that the development could be delivered as a P3 and garner as much as $7 billion in private investment.