From its perch on the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport, the glass-enclosed Encounter Restaurant provides a one-of-a-kind view of one of Los Angeles County’s busiest airports. But for the last three years, the sight of approaching planes was sometimes obstructed by scaffolding.

Kurt Clausen, general manager of Encounter, expects the restaurant to take off again now that the construction project finally has been completed. The restaurant stayed open during most of the $12.3 million renovation and retrofitting project, but business was off.

“The scaffolding made some people think that we were closed,” Clausen said. “We did see a decrease in customer traffic.”

Even regular customers were put off by obstructions outside the windows, he said. “Customers go for the views. They wanted to know when construction would be done.”

Renovation of the spiderlike Theme Building began in 2007 after a 1,000-pound chunk of one of the structure’s support arches fell. Encounter closed for nine months at the beginning of the renovation, but has been open since November 2007.

The end of the construction project brought a bonus: The observation deck on the Theme Building was reopened for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. As a result, Encounter is gearing up for even larger crowds and will be rolling out new dinner specials to accommodate them.

“Now that the building’s fully restored, we’re excited for people to rediscover the Encounter,” Clausen said.