"Panel OKs Deal for Ads at L.A., Ontario Airports; Delays Vote on Concessions"

Friday, September 8, 2006

Panel OKs Deal for Ads at L.A., Ontario Airports; Delays Vote on Concessions
A six-year deal with JCDecaux is expected to bring up to $80million for the
agency. A decision on concessions at LAX was put off.
By Jennifer Oldham
The Los Angeles (CA) Times


Joining airports the world over, officials decided Thursday to allow
advertising in terminals at Los Angeles and Ontario international airports.

The Airport Commission voted unanimously to give a six-year contract to
JCDecaux to install 365 advertising displays at LAX and 31 at Ontario. The
deal is expected to bring up to $80 million to the city's airport agency
over the life of the contract. 

But commissioners deferred a decision on how to bid 51 lucrative concessions
at LAX, after hearing from multiple speakers representing retail and food
shops. Officials plan to work with labor leaders to ensure that the bid
proposal protects existing jobs and pay levels at the airport. The
commission is expected to take up the matter again this fall. 

Commissioners hailed the awarding of the advertising contract. 

"Outside impressions of our airports are that they are obsolete,"
Commissioner Fernando Torres-Gil told JCDecaux representatives. "It's your
responsibility, of sorts, to help us improve our image."

Airport planners for years had hesitated to install advertising at LAX
because they feared it would interfere with signs directing travelers around
the airport.

But officials are looking for new ways to raise money as airline revenue
sags. 

Advertising is so ubiquitous at other airports that it's likely that many
passengers hadn't even noticed that it's never been present at 78-year-old
LAX. 

"This has indeed been a relatively long process," said Bernard Parisot,
president and co-chief executive of JCDecaux. "This is really creating a
totally new approach to airport advertising."

By year's end, travelers riding escalators down to baggage carousels may be
treated to movie trailers on 6-by-12-foot screens suspended from the
ceiling. When they arrive to claim their bags, passengers may see ads on
large lighted suitcases perched on carousels. 

Others checking in for flights in the Tom Bradley International Terminal may
be able to look up and see massive "wave" displays that feature motorized
panels that are latched together hanging from the ceiling.

Pictures on the displays change at the same time the displays undulate.

Officials expect to consider advertising outside the terminals and in
parking garages in the future. 

JCDecaux will also research other marketing opportunities at the airports -
such as bringing in a company that makes high-end fixtures to retrofit LAX's
outdated restrooms.

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