Dream catcher? Images courtesy of Los Angeles World Airports.
Will a $1.5 billion upgrade of Los Angeles International Airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal attract new long-haul services? Oliver Clark investigates.
I
n the 1980s sports fantasy fi lm Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner famously constructs an entire baseball stadium after a voice tells him: “build it and they will come” – but the same rule does not always apply to airport facilities and route development.
That is the dilemma that faces Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) as it pursues its mammoth $1.5 billion revamp of the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT).
The biggest public works programme in the history of Los Angeles, the Bradley West project will see 1.25 million square feet of expansion, comprising new check in, security and customs facilities and the addition of 15 gates at the new Midfi eld Satellite Concourse, including nine for widebody aircraft. Through this and a previous $737 million modernisation of TBIT completed in 2010, LAX is hoping to make itself more attractive to carriers,
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especially those looking to deploy new-generation aircraft, such as A380s and B787s. This could open new routes and connect cities that were previously too far or uneconomical to serve from LA.
Impact of the Dreamliner The A380 has already created new opportunities for LAX with Qantas launching regular services to Melbourne in October 2008 and then Sydney, while Korean Air has announced a new Seoul service to begin in October 2011. But it’s the B787 that promises to have an even great impact on the gateway.
As Mike Thorpe, director of air service development at LAX explains, the arrival of the B787 could represent as much of a threat to LA’s long-haul route network as it does an opportunity. “The B787 has the potential to change the aviation landscape
more than any aircraft since the B767,” he says.
“There is a whole bunch of city pairs that can now be opened up. Korean Air has announced direct A380 services into LAX from their hub in Seoul, but what about other destinations such as LAX to Brussels? There is a whole lot of opportunities out there, but at the same time the B787 presents a challenge as it provides access to other gateways in the US from Asia, such as Denver–Tokyo, and this could allow carriers to fl y over LAX. “A big market like Denver does not have that much international service and there are opportunities there for expansion, but for airports like LAX and the New York hubs, we are vulnerable because we are coastal, perhaps LAX is even more vulnerable than New York in this score.
“What we have to do is make sure the
benefi ts of coming here outweigh the negatives. Airlines are not going to close
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