City Council puts hold on LAX plans to allow Uber pickups

Now the L.A. City Council is saying “not so fast”.

Ontario allowed Los Angeles to operate the airport beginning in 1967 and transferred ownership in 1985 on condition that L.A. officials work to attract airlines to the facility. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Ontario Councilman Alan Wapner are expected to announce the transfer of the airport back to Ontario Thursday afternoon.

In 2013, the Ontario global Airport Authority was formed to assume operational responsibilities when and if a transfer occurs.

“Given the security and safety concerns unique to the airport and the surrounding area, it is in our view that [transportation network companies] now lack the necessary regulatory framework to do business at LAX”, he wrote to the board in May, according to CBS Los Angeles. In July, a Riverside Superior Court judge issued a ruling that could have allowed Ontario’s attorneys a chance to provide testimony that L.A.’s alleged mismanagement of the airport caused anywhere from $1.6 billion to $4 billion in damages to Ontario’s economy.

According to Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that manages LAX, Ontario Airport and general aviation airfields, almost $500 million has been invested in runway and other terminal upgrades since the late 1990s. The Los Angeles Airport Commission is scheduled to meet in closed session at 8 a.m. Thursday to discuss the pending lawsuit filed against the city by Ontario seeking to wrest control of the airport away from Los Angeles World Airports.

Garcetti has spoken in favor of transferring the airport to Ontario, as long as the city is fairly reimbursed. The case has been scheduled to go to trial August. 17.

That same year, the Ontario City Council approved a joint-powers agreement with San Bernardino County to create the Ontario worldwide Airport Authority.

Negotiations to return the airport to Ontario fell apart several times because of disagreements over price.

On numerous occasions since Villaraigosa’s departure, Ontario and Los Angeles appeared close to reaching a middle ground on the value of the airport. Ontario was also claiming a $69 million loss of tax revenues, from 2007 to the present, due to the downturn in activity at the airport. They also cited a study done for Los Angeles that put the airport’s value at only $140 million.

Such regionalization of air-travel traffic was required by a 2006 settlement with residents near LAX who challenged expansion plans proposed by former Mayor James Hahn.

The council’s decision followed a report published earlier this week by the Los Angeles Times that called attention to Uber’s oversight of its drivers.