AIRPORT REPORT: LOS ANGELES
LA story Los Angeles World Airports executive director, Deborah Flint, talks to Joe Bates about the multi-billion dollar redevelopment of LAX and her hopes that the new US government will back the nation’s airport system.
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n iconic airport in an iconic city, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is now officially the fourth busiest gateway on the planet after handling 80.9 million in 2016. The 8% upturn on 2015 means that LAX handled 18.5 million passengers more last year than it did in 2007, and the timeless popularity of Los Angeles and the Californian dream ensures that these numbers will continue to rise in the decades ahead no matter what life has in store for the aviation industry. What this means is that like a Hollywood film star seeking longevity, LAX will have to continue to adapt to changing times in order to maintain its appeal and have the capacity to meet future demand. Luckily, its reinvention started a few years ago with the 2013 opening of the showpiece Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) and, in true box office style, the new infrastructure keeps coming. Over the last two years in collaboration with its airline partners and retail/F&B concessions operator Westfield, Terminal 2, 5 and 6 have been upgraded or redesigned and TBIT and Terminal 4 finally linked by a new connector building. Next up is a new $1.6 billion Midfield Satellite Concourse (MSC) – effectively a 750,000 square foot extension to TBIT – and ongoing
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AIRPORT WORLD/APRIL-MAY 2017
upgrades in Terminal 1 and Terminal 7, in addition to planned airfield enhancements and a separate $5.5 billion project to improve landside access. The latter project officially known as the Landside Access Modernization Program (LAMP) will result in the building of the world’s largest Consolidated Rent-A-Car (CONRAC) facility and a new 2.25-mile Automated People Mover system designed to help relieve congestion in the Central Terminal Area. Its list of achievements and planned projects means that nobody could really accuse LAX of failing to realise that it has to act now in order to raise its operational efficiency and customer service levels as well as its capacity to ensure that it is equipped to meet future demand. Indeed, more than $3 million a day is currently being spent on nearly 50 different projects at LAX as part of the continuing work on its $14 billion modernisation programme. “We are creating an experience that makes a great first and last impression of Los Angeles,” enthuses Los Angeles World Airport’s executive director, Deborah Flint. “Our focus is on delivering a gold-standard airport that shines with the top-rated airports around the world.”