Developer sues airlines to recover 9/11 costs

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The developer of the World Trade Center in New York is seeking $12.3 billion in damages from the airlines and other companies associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks, his spokesman said Thursday.

Larry Silverstein, president and CEO of Silverstein Properties, has recovered $4.6 billion in insurance payments, spokesman Bud Perrone said.

The additional money is meant to offset the remaining costs of what was lost on September 11.

Perrone was not able to provide a full list of defendants, but the companies named in the suit include American Airlines, United Airlines, Continental Airlines and Boeing.

Also named: MassPort, which manages Logan International Airport in Boston, where the planes that hit the World Trade Center took off.

Most of the money sought in the lawsuit -- $8.4 billion -- would replace the property that was destroyed in the attacks, Perrone said.

The efforts to recover damages did not stand in the way of the families of September 11 victims pursuing wrongful-death suits, said Janno Lieber, president of World Trade Center Properties.