Airlines feuding with LAX

It's over the airport's plan to sharply increase terminal rents, a plan that the airlines say will eventually result in fare increases. Seven airlines - Alaska, AirTran, ATA, Frontier, Midwest, Southwest and U.S. Airways - have filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation. LAX already faces a federal lawsuit from three other airlines. To summarize: the airport is looking for more operational money from the airlines, claiming that the terminal rents are way too low. The airlines say that the hikes are out of sight and puts them at a competitive disadvantage against other carriers. The seven airlines filing the DOT complaint are on month-to-month leases, so they would be forced to shell out the rent increases immediately. From the Daily Breeze, which had the story this morning:

LAX officials argue that the higher rents amount to about $5 more per passenger. Even with the higher rates, they say, LAX remains a cheaper place to land than some other big airports. In their complaint, though, the seven airlines wrote that any added costs would be "enormous" in an industry as cutthroat as theirs. "Ultimately," they added, "consumers depending on LAX for their travel will suffer from higher fares, reductions in service, and a chilling of airline competition."