Council members showed support at their Nov. 15 meeting for a $1.5 billion plan that will remodel Terminal A, demolish Terminal C, construct a new Terminal B and widen and straighten roads. The revised plans will be completed by 2010.

Some of the projects that were part of the original, beefier $4.5 billion proposal, including a two-level roadway and a multi-story garage, have been eliminated. The larger scale project would have been completed in 2017.

"This plans allows San Jose to realize a beautiful, modern and competitive airport at an efficient cost with a quicker completion date," said Bill Sherry, director of aviation for the airport.

There were several factors that contributed to city leaders shifting gears and approving a less expensive version, including high fuel costs and a sagging airline industry.

The local economy has also fared poorly. Passenger traffic at the airport is still below pre 9-11 levels. Today, the airport is seeing just 78 percent of the traffic it did before the attacks, Sherry said.

The revised expansion plan does a good job of controlling costs and keeping the airport competitive, Sherry said. For example, Terminal A will be expanded on the first level to include more ticketing and baggage claim stations. The second level will have 12 security checkpoints, double the present six locations.

Once the renovations are completed, the overall costs airlines will pay per passenger will range between $8 and $9. The $9 figure puts the San Jose airport in the "high range, but not top range" among similar airports, Sherry said. He said the national median for airports similar to San Jose in size is $6.82 per passenger. Today, the airlines pay $4.63 per passenger.

Representatives from Southwest, Alaska and American airlines supported the revised plan at the meeting, as did leaders from San Jose's business groups.

Pat Dando, president of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, said it was important to build a competitive airport that remained customer-friendly. She said the revised plans would accomplish this.

She pointed out that it would not make sense to construct a facility if the airlines and passengers couldn't afford the fees to fly out of it.

The master plan for the airport was last adopted in 1997 and changed a dozen times. That plan was based on the fact that 17.6 million passengers would use the airport by 2010, but Sherry said the more likely year now is 2017.