The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday confirmed Oakland airport executive Deborah Ale Flint to lead the city agency that oversees Los Angeles International, LA/Ontario International and Van Nuys airports.
Ale Flint has been director of aviation in Oakland since 2010, overseeing the operation of Oakland International Airport. She will replace Gina Marie Lindsey as executive director of Los Angeles World Airports.
Ale Flint, nominated by Mayor Eric Garcetti, will join the airport agency amid a multibillion-dollar overhaul of LAX, an effort to connect LAX to light rail, and a bid by the city of Ontario to wrest back control of LA/Ontario International Airport.
City leaders have highlighted Ale Flint’s experience connecting public transit rail to the Oakland airport, as well as the various airport projects she oversaw there.
Ale Flint told a City Council committee earlier Tuesday that she has a “vision” for “restoring (LAX) to being the innovative, iconic airport” it was known as in the past, but doing so in a way that also makes it a “world-class neighbor” to surrounding communities and businesses.
Councilman Mike Bonin, whose district includes LAX, said Ale Flint is coming to Los Angeles at a time when the challenge is not to get stalled projects going, but “managing all the things that are moving, making sure they are done properly, they’re done effectively, and the airport miraculously operates efficiently” during the construction.
In nominating Ale Flint earlier this month, Garcetti called her “the right aviation executive to lead the changes we are making, overhauling nearly every terminal and bringing rail to LAX, growing passenger activity at LA/Ontario airport and adding new customs service at Van Nuys Airport.”
Since 2012, Ale Flint has served on the Aviation Consumer Protection Committee, which advises the Department of Transportation on the rights of air travel passengers.
Ale Flint has a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University.
— City News Service