How will you split up the airports?

If Ontario International Airport is "set free" from the control of Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a lot of details will have to be worked out. For decades, the airport has been run as an integral part of the entire set of airports managed by LAWA. Take this recent example (disclosure: ImageWare is a competitor of my employer):

ImageWare Systems, Inc., a leader in multimodal biometric security solutions, today announced that Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a City of Los Angeles department that owns and operates Los Angeles International (LAX), LA/Ontario International (ONT) and Van Nuys (VNY) airports, has placed an order for a number of biometric identity management and credentialing software products developed by ImageWare Systems, Inc. These software products will provide the foundation for a new biometrically enabled identity management and credentialing system used to identify airport employees, contractors, and police at LAX and Ontario airports.

So if the two entities split up, they'll have to work out new contracts with ImageWare so that Ontario International Airport has its contract, and Los Angeles International Airport has its separate contract.

And there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of these contracts that will have to be worked out.

Obviously these deals aren't insurmountable - Motorola, Safran, and their suppliers were able to work out a transition when my business unit was sold by Motorola to Safran - but it's something to take into consideration. Even if Ontario were to give LAWA umpty dumpty dillion dollars for Ontario Airport, it still would take time to work out the kinks.