Amid New Delay Dispute, LAX APM Project Files Formal Claim

In late October, the concessionaire for the LAX Automated People Mover (APM) project filed a formal claim for two cost and schedule relief events against the project’s public sponsor, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). The claim sheds new light on the cause of recent delays and disputes on the project, which is nearly complete. It is also a sign that the concessionaire and public sponsor for the APM project are back at loggerheads, just over a year after they negotiated a global settlement for the project’s previous set of cost and schedule claims.

That settlement, which set a new delivery date for the project in late 2025, was a sign that the project team had turned over a new leaf for the final year of the construction timeline, which mostly consisted of a rigorous testing schedule prior to handoff.

The project’s current reporting estimates a Passenger Service Availability (PSA) date in May 2026 instead. According to a recent report by the Lender Technical Advisor for the project’s debt, the formal claim filing in October was requested by LAWA as a precursor to further negotiations over the relief events included. LAWA will now have 60 days to respond or negotiate before litigation over the claim can be filed.

According to the project’s concession agreement, the formal claim process and litigation are the next steps to resolving a claim dispute if one of the parties rejects the findings of a third-party evaluator, or “project neutral.” The project neutral for the project held a hearing on the two relief events covered by the claim earlier this year and issued decisions in August. LAWA rejected both of the decisions and did not participate in the hearing.

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