=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2008/01/29/financial/= f143738S18.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, January 29, 2008 (AP) Settlement OK'd in LA airport fee hike dispute with five carriers By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer (01-29) 16:39 PST Los Angeles (AP) -- City commissioners agreed to settle a dispute with several major airlines over a fee hike imposed in 2006 to help pay for security costs at Los Angeles International Airport terminals. The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve = an agreement to settle a joint lawsuit brought by American Airlines, Continental Airlines Inc., and United Airlines against Los Angeles and its aviation authority, Los Angeles World Airports. The city also reached separate settlements with Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. The settlements cover a period beginning in 2006 through the end of this year. Among the terms of the deals, the airlines agreed to pay their shares of an $11 million per year increase in terminal security costs. The airport operator will credit the airlines for roughly $20 million in payments the air carriers already had paid in protest, said Steve Martin, executive officer for LAWA. The airlines also agreed to shoulder their share of up to $218.7 million for construction of a new central utility plant at the airport. More than 25 other domestic and international air carriers have lawsuits pending over the fee hikes. Martin said the airport authority was in the process of negotiating with the international air carriers. The commissioners voted to implement the maintenance and operation fee increases ranging between 40 percent and 50 percent for terminals in part to help cover increased security expenses following the September 2001 terrorist attacks. --------------------------------------------------------= -------------- Copyright 2008 AP <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".