AA: $1.6 B renovations to LAX Terminals 4 & 5 (began 17 Oct 2018)
Feb 13, 2019, 11:29 am
#106
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Flew in Monday night and saw they were doing what looked like repaving of the alley/tarmac area by those gates. As if it weren't bad enough to land "early" only to have to wait 30+ minutes for a gate to be ready...
I'm flying out of 46B tomorrow morning but haven't seen any emails alerting me to the fact that I should be arriving to the gate any earlier so guess we'll see how it goes.
I'm flying out of 46B tomorrow morning but haven't seen any emails alerting me to the fact that I should be arriving to the gate any earlier so guess we'll see how it goes.
Feb 13, 2019, 12:13 pm
#107
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Feb 13, 2019, 1:37 pm
#108
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Flew in Monday night and saw they were doing what looked like repaving of the alley/tarmac area by those gates. As if it weren't bad enough to land "early" only to have to wait 30+ minutes for a gate to be ready...
I'm flying out of 46B tomorrow morning but haven't seen any emails alerting me to the fact that I should be arriving to the gate any earlier so guess we'll see how it goes.
I'm flying out of 46B tomorrow morning but haven't seen any emails alerting me to the fact that I should be arriving to the gate any earlier so guess we'll see how it goes.
Feb 13, 2019, 3:03 pm
#111
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One minor upside this morning departing from the remote area was the eastward take off. Not sure if it was weather-related, but take offs were to the east. So, it made for a minimal amount of taxiing time
Feb 13, 2019, 3:09 pm
#112
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Jul 26, 2019, 10:04 pm
#113
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August 1st will mark another monthly meeting of the LAWA Board of Commissioners in which the "Definitive Terminal Improvement Plan" for Terminal 4 is not on the agenda. This plan was supposed to be presented to the Board of Commissioners for their approval in late 2018, but here we are in mid 2019 and nothing has been presented. Seems like American may be having some second thoughts about spending a ton of money to completely revamp Terminal 4 and may just stick with redoing the head house and adding the people mover connection.
In other news, this month the Board of Commissioners will authorize a $12M contract to design a greatly downsized and relatively pedestrian MSC South extension that will service 8 narrow body jets (Boeing 737 or Airbus 320/321) and be built without having to tear down the American Superbay maintenance hanger. I had no idea this was under serious consideration but it looks like they are going to green light the design next week. American was supposedly using the fact that LAWA needed to tear down the Superbay hanger to complete MSC South as a leverage point for gate concessions. Looks like they are losing that leverage.
From the report:
"The MSC South Project was originally envisioned to be an extension of the MSC North, with similar architecture, function, and scale. To build to this concept would require significant delivery time and investment, as well as necessitate the demolition of the American Airlines (AA) SuperBay Hangar, for which we have no adequate replacement in the near future. However, due to recent growth in passenger activity - as well as ongoing renovation efforts throughout LAX that requires the closure of other gates - there is an urgency to deliver more domestic gates in the near term. Moreover, with the planned development of Terminal 9 and Concourse 0, there is no longer the same need to use MSC South as a fully functioning international terminal as was originally envisioned.
...
The MSC South Concourse is currently envisioned to be a two-story pre-engineered structure, with no basement, and with a building footprint of 50,000 ft2. The MSC South will not be a replica of the MSC North. Instead, it will be an efficient, economical yet stylish facility with similar attributes to the Long Beach Concourse-Expansion of 2012, and the Concourse A expansion at Denver International Airport. The Concourse will be designed to support eight (8) new ADG III gates and provide an "Optimum" level of service (LOS) and guest experience in accordance with International Air Transport Association (IATA) standards. This involves the provision of spacious and comfortable holdrooms and restrooms, and more than sufficient area for concessions, passenger circulation, airline operations, baggage make-up, etc.
The MSC Link is currently envisioned to be an elevated interior circulation corridor designed to provide a seamless experience for passengers transitioning between the MSC North and MSC South. The MSC Link also is envisioned to include an expansion of the holdroom in the MSC North that serves Gates 221 and 225 to achieve an "Optimum" level of service. This will also involve reconfiguring some of the holdroom and circulation
areas at the south end of the MSC North. The MSC Link will enhance the guest experience - and operating revenues - by allowing MSC South passengers easy access to the new concessions core and the common use lounge space in MSC North and TBIT."
In other news, this month the Board of Commissioners will authorize a $12M contract to design a greatly downsized and relatively pedestrian MSC South extension that will service 8 narrow body jets (Boeing 737 or Airbus 320/321) and be built without having to tear down the American Superbay maintenance hanger. I had no idea this was under serious consideration but it looks like they are going to green light the design next week. American was supposedly using the fact that LAWA needed to tear down the Superbay hanger to complete MSC South as a leverage point for gate concessions. Looks like they are losing that leverage.
From the report:
"The MSC South Project was originally envisioned to be an extension of the MSC North, with similar architecture, function, and scale. To build to this concept would require significant delivery time and investment, as well as necessitate the demolition of the American Airlines (AA) SuperBay Hangar, for which we have no adequate replacement in the near future. However, due to recent growth in passenger activity - as well as ongoing renovation efforts throughout LAX that requires the closure of other gates - there is an urgency to deliver more domestic gates in the near term. Moreover, with the planned development of Terminal 9 and Concourse 0, there is no longer the same need to use MSC South as a fully functioning international terminal as was originally envisioned.
...
The MSC South Concourse is currently envisioned to be a two-story pre-engineered structure, with no basement, and with a building footprint of 50,000 ft2. The MSC South will not be a replica of the MSC North. Instead, it will be an efficient, economical yet stylish facility with similar attributes to the Long Beach Concourse-Expansion of 2012, and the Concourse A expansion at Denver International Airport. The Concourse will be designed to support eight (8) new ADG III gates and provide an "Optimum" level of service (LOS) and guest experience in accordance with International Air Transport Association (IATA) standards. This involves the provision of spacious and comfortable holdrooms and restrooms, and more than sufficient area for concessions, passenger circulation, airline operations, baggage make-up, etc.
The MSC Link is currently envisioned to be an elevated interior circulation corridor designed to provide a seamless experience for passengers transitioning between the MSC North and MSC South. The MSC Link also is envisioned to include an expansion of the holdroom in the MSC North that serves Gates 221 and 225 to achieve an "Optimum" level of service. This will also involve reconfiguring some of the holdroom and circulation
areas at the south end of the MSC North. The MSC Link will enhance the guest experience - and operating revenues - by allowing MSC South passengers easy access to the new concessions core and the common use lounge space in MSC North and TBIT."
May 22, 2021, 1:53 pm
#114
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For those who care, in late April the Board of LAWA received a presentation that provided updates on the approved LAX terminal rennovation/expansion plans. There was an update on AA's terminal 4/5 rennovation plans that they now expect to complete the 4.5 "core" expansion (mostly just a connection to the new Automated People Mover and part of new headhouse) in November of 2022. The real action now starts in July of 2022 when they will formally start Phase 1 of the T4 project which involves the demolition of the end of Terminal 4 (Gates 46-49A) and much of the existing headhouse. They will then proceed in phases with the entire project not scheduled to be completed until early 2028. You can read the whole presentation at this link.
Last edited by BillBurn; May 22, 2021 at 2:13 pm Reason: add picture
May 22, 2021, 7:53 pm
#116
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That's not the least of it. In the latter half of 2022 LAX will be one big construction zone. Major projects in various stages of completion at that point will be:
1. T4 Reconstruction
2. T2-T3 Reconstruction
3. APM/CONRAC build
4. T0 and T9 enablement projects (mostly roadway stuff and assuming the whole thing gets the green light in the next couple months)
5. MSC South Gates (which need to be done before they can start T9 construction)
6. T6 Renovation/Expansion
1. T4 Reconstruction
2. T2-T3 Reconstruction
3. APM/CONRAC build
4. T0 and T9 enablement projects (mostly roadway stuff and assuming the whole thing gets the green light in the next couple months)
5. MSC South Gates (which need to be done before they can start T9 construction)
6. T6 Renovation/Expansion
May 22, 2021, 8:07 pm
#117
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LAX is already one big construction zone, with T3 completely shut down, ongoing construction in TBIT, and the people mover project messing up the roadways and central parking lot area. For now, T4 is a relative oasis, but it sounds like that will change soon enough.
May 22, 2021, 11:29 pm
#118
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Aug 8, 2021, 10:42 am
#119
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so how have things been at LAX lately? having not been able to come thru in a very long while, i was just curious if it is yet a complete mess on the AA side of things?
Aug 8, 2021, 11:32 am
#120
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