LOS ANGELES WORLD AIRPORTS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RETIRING
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey today announced that after a 39-year career, 33 working in the aviation industry, she will retire. Telling staff “it is time for me to move on to other adventures,” Lindsey discussed her retirement with Mayor Eric Garcetti and Board of Airport Commissioners President Sean Burton and says she will stay on into the spring to ensure a smooth transition to new leadership. The Mayor’s office and Airport Commissioners will work with Spencer Stuart, a leading executive search consulting firm, to identify Lindsey’s successor.
“This is an appropriate time for a transition,” said Lindsey. “The next LAWA executive director will be able to take the Airports Development Program through its next major phase, its next round of projects that will last at least 10 years.”
Lindsey was appointed LAWA executive director June 4, 2007, after decades of experience in airport management and a record of success in renovating and improving international airports.
“A good leader brings out the best in a team,” said Sean Burton, president of the Board of Airport Commissioners. “Gina Marie has put together a strong and efficient team that is transforming LAX into an airport the city can be proud of; responsibly managing costs and operations at LA/Ontario International Airport through difficult market changes; and moving Van Nuys, a general aviation airport that had been losing money, into a brighter future. I am proud to have been able to work with her.”
In a memo to LAWA staff, Lindsey summarized their achievements:
Date: February 3, 2015
Memo to: All Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Employees
From: Gina Marie Lindsey, Executive Director
Subject: LAWA Accomplishments and Next Steps
As we settle into the rhythm of 2015, it's important to take a few moments to reflect on our achievements of the last seven (almost eight) years. You all have accomplished tremendous things for Los Angeles World Airports, and by extension, the City of Los Angeles and Southern California. Let's review the progress:
OPERATING THE AIRPORTS: Staff has developed significantly improved airport operational knowledge, situational awareness, and capability to respond to operational disruptions and emergencies. We now have a 24/7 /365 Airport Response Coordination Center (ARCC) with intra-disciplinary cooperation and management working better than ever. Two years ago we received our first perfect score in 25 years on the annual FAA Part 139 compliance inspection at LAX.
WHAT TO FIX OR BUILD AND WHEN TO DO IT: There's now an established, systematic process for determining capital investment priorities at each airport. The initial capabilities of a Facilities Management Program are in place, and Engineering has a comprehensive Pavement Management Program enabling regular rehabilitation of the most critical pavement improvement needs at all our airports.
HOW WE CONSTRUCT: We now have a defined $8.5 Billion facility improvement plan and the capability to build it with delivery methodology tailored to the specific characteristics of the project rather than always using the conventional Design/Bid/Build process. $3 Billion of improvements at LAX have been delivered. Bradley West Phase 1 is complete and Phase 2 will be complete by mid-year. The Central Utility Plant is nearing completion, airfield improvements are underway, and every terminal except T3 is under some sort of renovation either by tenant airlines or Concessionaires.
COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS: The historically entrenched atmosphere of extreme mistrust, opaque, sporadic and often adversarial communication has been replaced by consistent, forthcoming sharing of information that is building trust even when there may not be agreement on substance. This is an important change. We have gotten all our projects through California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review, and completed the Northside EIR all without litigation. Even the complicated and controversial Specific Plan Amendment Study (SPAS) received the necessary BOAC, County and City Council approvals.
MANAGING THE REAL ESTATE: The backlog of lease negotiations, new business tenders, past contentious relationships between VNY tenants and LAWA have been resolved, and staff has implemented a systematic process of negotiating the 5-year rate adjustments at all LAWA airports. The long-awaited Propeller Park is actually under construction. The concessions program at LAX that had been operating on multiple extensions has been re-competed and approximately 65% of the new stores and restaurants are operational yielding healthy increased per passenger concessions revenue.
MANAGING THE BUSINESS: Eight years ago LAWA was in litigation with all of the airlines serving LAX and there was no business arrangement that could credibly finance a comprehensive facility improvement program. Today, all of that litigation has been dropped in favor of a transparent, ten year rates & charges formula that treats all airlines equitably, enables predictability for their business planning, and provides a stable source of revenue for a major portion of the LAX Capital Improvement Program. This agreement was ratified by 100% of the air carriers serving LAX.
We've gradually reduced ONT operating costs to maintain a relatively consistent cost per passenger despite significant traffic reductions. VNY revenues now exceed expenses, and the FlyAway routes are all self-supporting except the very newest Hollywood & Santa Monica routes.
After five revenue bond issuances in the last five years and a total of $2.5 Billion in debt, LAWA maintains an AA rating with every rating agency exhibiting confidence in LAWA's future. Last week Moody's affirmed our rating with a highly prized "Positive Outlook" attached.
WHAT'S NEXT?
I'm very proud of the progress you all have achieved for LAWA and grateful for the opportunity to have worked with you to make our airports better. It is time, however, for me to move on to other adventures. I'm planning to retire from the LAWA Executive Director position this spring and have discussed this exit with BOAC President Sean Burton and Mayor Garcetti. The BOAC, with help from an executive search firm, will be looking for another leader that can take this organization forward into LAWA's exciting future.
While we've made amazing progress over the last seven years, our work is not done. We must continue to get better at everything we do. Within the next two weeks we'll issue a Notice of Preparation launching the CEQA review of the comprehensive Landside Improvement Program for LAX -- an entirely new set of options for passengers to get into and out of the airport. Passenger traffic is on the upswing at ONT and there are several new leasehold opportunities set for development at VNY.
I have no doubt you all will continue to propel LAWA and its airports forward to be the best they can be -- so let's not miss a beat and get back to work.
