Fluor JV closes on $5B LAX people-mover deal

UPDATE: June 14, 2018. Fluor announced Monday that the Fluor-led LAX Integrated Express Solutions (LINXS) team has reached financial close on its automated people mover project. The joint venture secured $1.2 billion of Private Activity Bonds and $263 million of bank debt, as well as equity from Fluor and other members of LINXS. The JV achieved financial close more than a month in advance of the deadline.

Private Activity Bonds allow development groups like LINXS to borrow money tax-free, and some view them as a critical tool in persuading the private-sector to invest in public infrastructure projects. Los Angeles World Airports will make payments to LINXS as it meets contractual design and construction milestones, then repay capital, operating and maintenance costs through availability payments.

The people mover is expected to handle 10,000 passengers per hour, which translates to 85 million riders a year, via driverless vehicles that are able to make pickups as frequently as once every two minutes. The LINXS team is comprised of Fluor, ACS Infrastructure Development, Balfour Beatty, Bombardier Transportation, Dragados USA, Flatiron and Hochtief PPP Solutions. Fluor is participating in the entire 30-year life cycle of the project, which will be delivered under a $4.9 billion design-build-finance-operate-maintain contract.

Dive Brief:

The Los Angeles City Council approved a $4.9 billion contract with the Fluor-led LAX Integrated Express Solutions (LINXS) consortium to design, build and operate a people-mover system at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), according to the Associated Press.
The 2.5-mile elevated system will feature electric driverless cars, which will carry passengers between a light-rail station, terminals, a transportation center and a consolidated rental car facility, according to the Los Angeles Times. The system is expected to be operational in 2023. LAX will pay for $3.8 billion of the project from airport revenue, and LINXS will pick up the balance through an issuance of tax-exempt bonds.
LINXS won the contract, one of the biggest in city history, by submitting a bid that was 4% less than airport officials estimated and $700 million less than other firms bidding on the project. The construction portion of the contract is valued at just short of $2 billion, which will be paid to LINXS in six payments as it meets predetermined benchmarks. LAX will then make annual payments to LINXS as part of the 25-year operations and maintenance contract.

Dive Insight:

As major airports continue to expand in physical size and passenger flow, the ability to move extra people in an efficient, quick manner around the property and to nearby mass transit stations has become an important consideration — one that construction and transportation firms are pursuing with new or improved technologies.

Last month Bombardier Transportation, also part of the LINXS team, won a $305 million contract to extend the automated people-mover system at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, according to the company. Bombardier will lengthen the PHX Sky Train 2.5 miles to the airport's rental car center, build two new stations, increase the size of the system's maintenance facility and provide new vehicles. Eight of the 10 busiest U.S. airports have chosen Bombardier for their automated transit systems, company officials said in a statement.

Meanwhile, passengers traveling between O'Hare International Airport and downtown Chicago could soon be making the trip in 20 minutes or less, but exactly how that will happen remains to be seen. There are two finalists bidding on the express train service, but the design details won't be revealed until after the final proposals are submitted on May 18. One of the companies putting together a bid is Elon Musk's The Boring Company, and early indications are that his design will be similar to a high-speed, underground sled system he proposed for Los Angeles.