Los Angeles World Airports Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey announced her retirement Tuesday, telling her staff that it is “time for me to move on to other adventures.”
Lindsey is a 33-year veteran of the aviation industry and was appointed LAWA executive director in June 2007. Among her many achievements was overseeing the redevelopment of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International (LAX).
An exact departure date hasn’t been revealed. Lindsey said she will stay on into the spring to ensure a smooth transition.
The office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the city’s Board of Airport Commissioners will work with executive search firm Spencer Stuart to identify a successor.
“This is an appropriate time for a transition,” Lindsey said. “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.”
In a letter to LAWA employees, Lindsey outlined some of the achievements the airport system has had during her tenure and encouraged staff to “not miss a beat and get back to work!”
Among the achievements listed was LAWA’s $8.5 billion facility improvement plan, $3 billion of which have been delivered. She noted that at LAX, “every terminal except T3 is under some sort of renovation either by tenant airlines or concessionaires.”
Lindsey said concessions overhauls are underway, with about 65 percent of the new stores and restaurants operational and yielding “healthy per-passenger concessions revenue.”
Lindsey also noted improvements in community relations, noting the “historically entrenched atmosphere of extreme mistrust, opaque, sporadic and often adversarial communication has been replaced by consistent forthcoming sharing of information that is building trust even when there might not be an agreement on substance.” The divisiveness relates to LAWA’s relationship with various construction approval agencies.
Lindsey also referenced improving relations with airlines.
“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,” she noted. “Today, all of that litigation has been dropped in favor of a transparent, 10-year rates and 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.” Lindsey noted that the agreement was ratified by 100 percent of the air carriers serving LAX.
