Airports/airlines Consider Moves If Us Fails

[whlinder]

As US Airways struggles, industry ponders 'what if'

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Yesterday, Tom Kinton, Logan's aviation director, asked his staff to start drawing up a plan for securing US Airways' Terminal B space in the event the carrier folds soon, said airport spokesman Phil Orlandella.

Logan's contingency plan includes determining who could use those facilities after the airline moved out, and how to get back airport security badges from former employees, he said.

At the same time, Logan would start looking for a new tenant. Airports earn money from airlines by collecting various charges, from landing fees to payments on gate leases. When Eastern Airlines liquidated and vacated its space in Terminal A, several now-defunct regional carriers filled the space, Orlandella said.

At T.F. Green, where US Airways flies 29 of 113 total daily departures, a liquidation of the airline would spark an immediate hiring freeze at the airport, said Patti Goldstein, an airport spokeswoman. A battle between US Airways and Southwest Airlines for passengers traveling to Philadelphia is largely responsible for the airport's rebound, which only in the last year began to grow following the loss of flights and traffic after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.