All the airport's buildings and gates will be renamed before the 2028 Olympic Games.
An A350 being catered in Los Angeles (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
Most major airports around the world see the majority of flights operated by just one carrier: for example, London Heathrow, the largest international hub in the world, is dominated by British Airways which has exclusive use of Terminal 5 and operates 50% of international connection from the West London airport.
And if we look at airports with a large share of domestic traffic, these percentages become even higher: at Atlanta Hartsfield, three flights out of four are performed by “local” carrier Delta, and at Dallas/Fort Worth and Charlotte, American is responsible for almost 90% of domestic traffic.
One major airport that eschews this rule is Los Angeles, where the biggest carrier is Delta with 24% of domestic flights and 20% of international connections, according to the OAG Megahubs Report 2024.
This situation makes it particularly challenging for the management of the airport to handle communications with all their tenants, especially when major upgrades are in progress as has been the case for the past few years at LAX.
During the Routes conference in Bahrain, AirlineGeeks had the opportunity to meet with Doug Webster, Deputy Executive Director for Operations for LAX, which is part of the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) portfolio including also Van Nuys Airport, one of the busiest general aviation airports in the United States.
“There is a lot going on at LAX at the moment, and the next big thing coming up is the Automated People Mover (APM) which is scheduled to be completed between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026. Traffic is everyone’s problem in LA, our central terminal area can become very congested, especially in the evening. Once the people mover is completed there will be a connectivity to the metro, that is now being served by buses, but of course buses cannot avoid traffic,” he said.
The APM will have three stops in the middle of the central area, which is now occupied by parking buildings, and will connect the terminal buildings at LAX with the Consolidated Rental Car Facility and the LAX Metro/Transit Center, providing also an intermediate stop that will serve as remote curbs. “It will be possible to do drop-offs and pick-ups there without the need to drive to the central terminal area,” explained Webster. “There will still be the possibility to drive all the way to the terminals, but during rush hours it will be a 10-minute people mover ride versus whatever time it may take to go through the central terminal area.”
Intended connection between the LAX Automated People Mover and the Los Angeles Metro (Photo: Los Angeles Metro)
The Consolidated Rental Car Facility has been open since mid-October with Avis and Budget relocating there via buses. “We needed them to relocate because the areas they were occupying are being redeveloped. The facility was not designed to function with buses, it was supposed to be fed by the train, so we are going to evaluate how things go with Avis and Budget see what kind of traffic we can manage using buses and make a decision in a few months we are adding other car rentals sooner rather than later.”
In 2017, during the month of May, more than 15 airlines operating at LAX had to undergo a major terminal reshuffling. One of the main relocations involved the biggest carrier at LAX, Delta, which moved from Terminals 5 and 6 to Terminals 2 and 3.
During the next three years, the names of all terminals will be rationalized in order to facilitate wayfinding for passengers. At the moment, the central structure of the airport is the Tom Bradley International Terminal, which is generally identified as Terminal B and therefore it is not in line with the numerical denomination of all other terminals.
“When Delta redeveloped Terminal 2 and 3, it all became one building,” Webster added. “So the terminal occupied by Southwest will remain Terminal 1, then the current terminal 2 and 3 will be renamed as Terminal 2; the Tom Bradley Terminal will become Terminal 3, and then all other buildings on the south side of the structure will maintain their names of Terminal 4, 5, 6 and 7, with the latter incorporating also the pier that is currently denominated as Terminal 8.”
In addition to that, all piers will be assigned a letter, and gates will be identified by the letter of the pier and the number indicating the specific gate. This will allow each gate to have a unique identification.
“From a customer perspective it will be more intuitive as it follows the international standards followed also at other airports around the world, but it going to be a change from the numbering system we have used for the last 60 years,” he continued.
New denominations for terminals and piers at LAX (Photo: Los Angeles World Airports)
Of course, the most important deadline that LAX has to deal with in the near future is July 13, 2028, which is the date of the Opening Ceremony for the XXXIV Olympic Games that will be hosted by the “City of Angels.” Millions of athletes and visitors will descend on Los Angeles and for most of them LAX will be the first impression of the Olympic City about to host the Games.
“During the summer we spent some time with Aeroports de Paris to learn from their experience,” continued Webster. “What is important is to make sure that all constructions are done by the time the Olympics arrive. It’s not necessary to build lots of new facilities, we just need to focus on running a clean and efficient operations. So there will be no race to build something new and shiny, but all developments will need to be done in time. For this reason, we expect the renovation project at Terminal 4, the American Airlines terminal, to be completed by 2027. If there is something that could risk not being completed before the Olympics, it will be postponed.”
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