Selling the L.A. Airport

Your editorial (“Privatizing LAX: A Plan That Won’t Fly,� May 18) reflects the typical Times approach to a valid free enterprise idea. Since when does government operate a business enterprise more efficiently than the private sector?

Los Angeles County’s five general aviation airports just finished the first year of privatization. The financial results were beyond the expectations of the county bureaucracy, and the users (who supply all of the funding) were more than satisfied. Airports are a profit-making business and do not need tax dollars for support. It makes perfect sense for private enterprise to run this business and return the maximum revenue to Los Angeles. Private enterprise pays taxes and license fees and funds its own retirement programs.

Profit is the motivation for private enterprise to give good service whereas authority is the license which most government employees use for any service at all. If you need proof, compare a United Parcel Service delivery person’s speed with that of a U.S. postal worker, or tell me how pleased you were the last time you stood in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles for a driver’s license renewal compared with the service you get at a fast-food store. The sooner LAX is privatized the better for its citizens. The only problem that I see is that so much money will fall into the hands of politicians who do not have the business ability to spend it wisely.

ANGELO CARDONO, Chairman, Los Angeles County Aviation Commission