The MAA agreed to not collect the $32 million to avoid litigation by the airlines because it represents charges for 2004 through 2006 that went undetected too long, Porcari said. The $25.04 million stems from undercharges in fiscal 2007 and 2008.
Collecting the full amount could also have induced carriers to reduce the number of flights and gates they operate at BWI, Porcari said. Remaining affordable for discount carrier Southwest is a priority, he said, as the airline expands into nearby airports in Philadelphia and Washington.
"We wanted to reach an agreement to recover it in a way that was not too burdensome to the airlines," said Timothy L. Campbell, the MAA's executive director.
A main cause for the undercharges was an overestimation of the square footage of the Southwest terminal that opened in May 2005.
Overall, the MAA overstated the amount of terminal space leased to airlines by 12 percent, according to an Attorney General's Office memo obtained by The Sun.
Demolished terminal space in Concourse B was not deleted from square footage estimates when the new Southwest Concourse A came online, Campbell said.
"The measurements were taken by our staff; the fact is, there were just mistakes made," Campbell said. "It's pretty embarrassing, and our commitment is that it won't happen again."
In addition, other capital projects funded by the Transportation Trust Fund were underestimated, including the planning and design costs of projects that were later scrapped, according to the memo prepared by Louisa H. Goldstein, the attorney general's counsel to the MAA.
The $57.3 million mistake was first discovered last October as Jacobs Consulting auditors reviewed BWI's contracts with its airlines. It took aviation officials and the airlines until April to reach an initial settlement agreement, Campbell said.
BWI will work to make up the lost shortfall by cutting its operating costs across the board in the coming years, Campbell said. Some 10 vacant MAA staff positions will go unfilled, and utility costs will be reduced through conservation measures, he said.
On the questions related to BWI's contract with its concessions manager, Campbell said BAA executives will give a briefing at the July 9 Maryland Aviation Commission meeting.
BAA does not meet all of its minority subcontracting goals. It falls short on goals for minority-owned retail stores but exceeds goals for food and beverage outlets, Campbell said.
BAA is facing lawsuits from two former tenants, a woman and a minority member who said they were unfairly forced out of business in favor of big national retailers.
One of the two is Melissa Fulton, the former owner of Celebrate Maryland, a locally owned group of souvenir shops that has gone out of business at BWI.
"It seems unfair and perhaps even discriminatory to be so generous with large, multibillion-dollar public corporations," Fulton testified before the board and Porcari yesterday. "The state's arrogance is quite evident when small, minority-owned business in the same circumstances are given no help, no concessions, no reduced rent or fees but are, in fact, forced out of the airport."
laura.mccandlish@baltsun.com
