WORLD ROUTES: Los Angeles Makes Commitment to International Travellers

It has been a busy couple of weeks for Los Angeles World Airports, the parent of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the third largest facility in the United States and sixth busiest airport in the world, offering 680 daily flights to 96 domestic cities and 930 weekly non-stop flights to 59 cities in 30 countries through the services of 63 commercial air carriers.

After the formal launch of operations in the South Concourse of the New Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) last month, the airport operator has secured a number of new services, including the arrival of a key direct link to the Middle East from Etihad Airways, which was revealed while World Routes was taking place in Las Vegas.

“We are thrilled Etihad Airways chose LAX, gateway to the world, for this new, historic service,” said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director, Los Angeles World Airports. “Etihad joins an impressive list of international air carriers that are now able to offer passengers an improved and exceptional level of customer service with the opening of the new Tom Bradley International Terminal.”

Alongside the Etihad Airways flight to Abu Dhabi, LAX has seen recent announcements from Aeromexico, Cathay Pacific Airways, Saudia and Norwegian; the latter offering new transatlantic links across Scandinavia and also London. The investment in TBIT will allow the airport to accommodate this international growth and will also position it well for future growth.

TBIT is considered the crown jewel of the $4.1-billion LAX Capital Improvements Program-Phase 1, the largest public works project in the history of the City of Los Angeles. The New TBIT Project is creating nearly 4,000 construction-related jobs during the project’s five-year schedule and nearly 2,000 permanent concession jobs with the start of operations.

In addition to three gates in the North Concourse that opened in March 2013, there are now a total of eight new gates on the west side of the terminal, all of which can accommodate larger, new-generation (Group 6) aircraft such as the Airbus A380 super jumbo jet and Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental. Arriving international passengers also began processing through an expanded and upgraded U.S. Customs and Border Protection federal inspection area.

Phase 2 of the project, which begins later this year, includes: demolition of the existing terminal’s east side gates; new boarding bridges and aircraft aprons on the east side of the new terminal; upgraded federal customs and immigration inspection areas; relocation of and upgrade to the federal passenger security screening area; public art installations; and secured corridors between Terminal 3, TBIT and Terminal 4 so connecting passengers can conveniently go from one terminal to the next.

Find out more in our exclusive video interview from World Routes.