Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport (IATA: LAX, ICAO: KLAX, FAA LID: LAX), commonly referred to as LAX (with each of its letters pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles and its surrounding metropolitan area.
LAX is located in the Westchester neighborhood of Los Angeles, 18 miles (30 km) southwest of Downtown Los Angeles, with the commercial and residential areas of Westchester to the north, the city of El Segundo to the south and the city of Inglewood to the east. LAX is the closest airport to the Westside and the South Bay.
The airport is operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a branch of the Los Angeles city government, that also operates Van Nuys Airport for general aviation. The airport covers 3,500 acres (1,400 ha) of land and has four parallel runways.[4]
In 2019, LAX handled 88,068,013 passengers, making it the world's third-busiest and the United States' second-busiest airport following Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As the largest and busiest international airport on the U.S. West Coast, LAX is a major international gateway to the United States, and also serves a connection point for passengers traveling internationally (such as between East Asia and South America). The airport holds the record for the world's busiest origin and destination airport, because relative to other airports, many more travelers begin or end their trips in Los Angeles than use it as a connection. It is also the only airport to rank among the top five U.S. airports for both passenger and cargo traffic.[7] LAX serves as a major hub or focus city for more passenger airlines than any other airport in the United States.
Although LAX is the busiest airport in the Greater Los Angeles Area, several other airports, including Hollywood Burbank Airport, John Wayne Airport (Orange County), Long Beach Airport, and Ontario International Airport, serve the region.
In 1926, the Los Angeles City Council and the Chamber of Commerce recognized the need for the city to have its own airport to tap into the fledgling, but quickly growing aviation industry. Several locations were considered, but the final choice was a 640-acre (1.00 sq mi; 260 ha) field in the southern part of Westchester. The location had been promoted by real estate agent William W. Mines, and Mines Field as it was known, had already been selected to host the 1928 National Air Races. On August 13, 1928 the city leased the land and the newly formed Department of Airports began converting the fields once used to grow wheat, barley and lima beans into dirt landing strips.[9]
