For Immediate Release
Nov. 2, 2019
Contact:
LAX Public Relations
(424) 646-5260
Nearly 9,000 More Passengers Arriving Tonight than Saturday Night
Peak Hours Expected from 5 p.m. to Midnight
(Los Angeles, CA) As Sunday evening is Los Angeles International Airport’s (LAX) most heavily traveled period of the week, officials strongly urge travelers to prepare for the possibility of longer wait times. LAX is expecting nearly 54,000 passengers arriving 5 p.m. to midnight tonight, in contrast to fewer than 45,000 last night – an increase of 16.5%. As Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) continues to streamline and improve the LAX-it process and experience five days after launch, travelers are encouraged to plan for longer waits than normal whether taking a taxi or ride app service at LAX-it. Guests are reminded that taxi and ride app drop-offs continue to take place at the terminals.
Airport officials continue to work closely with partners to ensure passengers can leave LAX as swiftly as possible and have seen improvement over the first week of LAX-it operations. Shuttles, on average, currently have a wait time of approximately 3-5 minutes, and a travel time of 10-15 minutes. Ride app wait times have seen a marked decrease from a high of more than 60 minutes to now a non-peak wait time of approximately 15 minutes. LAWA will be deploying additional shuttles and staff this evening in an effort to maintain these improvements, but travel times can be expected to increase, as they do throughout the airport environment, during the evening peak.
LAX-it is designed to mitigate traffic congestion during construction of the Automated People Mover train at LAX, which will result in closures of 30 percent of the inner curb in the CTA. In the first five days of operation of LAX-it, there were on average 13,000 fewer cars in the CTA than the previous week.
Officials will have support on-the-ground on Sunday evening to make adjustments in real time, but given the large influx of traffic, travelers are encouraged to anticipate longer wait times than average. Sunday is always the busiest day of the week for LAX, and it is expected that this first Sunday of LAX-it operations will be no exception. LAWA officials are doing everything possible to make the peak of the week as smooth as possible.
Please note that the wait time can vary tremendously between car services throughout the day, so guests planning to use ride app services should check their apps for projected wait time. LAX is also reporting approximate current wait time conditions at LAX-it by mode every 30-60 minutes on Twitter at @FlyLAXAirport, and travel rel="noopener noreferrer" times on Twitter at @FlyLAXstats.
LAX, the fourth-busiest airport in the world and second busiest in the United States, was named a top-10 U.S. airport by SKYTRAX. LAX served more than 87.5 million passengers in 2018 and offers an average of 700 daily nonstop flights to 109 cities in the U.S. and 1,281 weekly nonstop flights to 93 markets in 47 countries on 69 commercial airlines. LAX ranks 10th in the world in air cargo tonnage processed, with more than 2.4 million tons of air cargo. LAX handled 707,883 operations (landings and takeoffs) in 2018.
LAX generated 620,600 jobs in Southern California, with labor income of $37.3 billion and economic output (business revenues) of more than $126.6 billion, according to an economic study based on 2014 operations. This activity added $6.2 billion to local and state revenues and $8.7 billion in federal tax revenues. The study also reported that LAX’s ongoing capital improvement program creates an additional 121,640 annual jobs with labor income of $7.6 billion and economic output of $20.3 billion; $966 million in state and local taxes; and $1.6 billion in federal tax revenues.
LAX was honored as having the “Best Overall Customer Service Program” by Airports Council International-North America; named the “Best Airport for Breastfeeding Moms” by Mamava; selected for the Top 10 “Best of the U.S.’s Big Airports” (Wall Street Journal) and “Most Pet-Friendly Airports in the U.S. (Mental Floss); named the second-most improved airport in the U.S. by JD Power; received an “Innovation Award” from the L.A. Better Business Challenge for its Central Utility Plant; and named a “Business Leader in Air Quality” by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
LAX is also the second-most popular airport in the world to appear on Instagram, according to wego.com. LAX is part of a system of two Southern California airports – along with Van Nuys general aviation – that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City’s general fund.
As a covered entity under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Angeles does not discriminate on the basis of disability and, upon request, will provide reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access to its programs, services, and activities. Alternative formats in large print, braille, audio, and other forms (if possible) will be provided upon request.
