Monday's development means the opening of the new terminal — already behind schedule — will be delayed until 2010, DeCosta said. It also means the airport spent $34 million on designs it may not use.
DeCosta said the design team, which was led by the well-known architectural firm Leo A Daly, never told airport managers the price tag for their plans exceeded the budget by at least $140 million. He called the plans ``over-designed'' and ``luxurious'' and said the team wanted to use more steel than necessary.
``They designed it to be far more muscular than it needed to be — at our expense,'' DeCosta said.
Meanwhile, the design team accused airport officials of micromanaging the project and making inflated demands.
John Whisler, the chief operating officer of Leo A Daly, said the designers were under ``intense oversight'' from the airport's many consultants and employees in charge of the expansion project.
Airport officials kept requesting expansions and additions, such as a new maintenance terminal for the underground train system, while still telling designers to keep the costs ``below the line,'' or hidden, Whisler said.
``The folks who report to the airport director wanted more than they could afford,'' Whisler said.
The price also rose because of increases in the market cost of steel and concrete due to a building boom in China, he said.
DeCosta said he would rebid the project and hopes the new design team can use the existing plans. But ``if it turns out they can't salvage them, they will be scrapped and the new team will start from scratch,'' he said.
DeCosta declared the design team's contract in default in late June. Negotiations to salvage the contract were unsuccessful.
The proposed Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal is part of a broader expansion project at the airport that includes a fifth runway. It was originally supposed to open next year but has been pushed back several times
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