Proponents say the nation's third-busiest airport needs the new building to remain competitive with

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Proponents say the nation's plaza hotel in las vegas third-busiest airport needs the new building to remain competitive with modern, efficient airports like Hong Kong and Seoul, major domestic hubs like Houston and Chicago and pluckier upstarts like Denver and Las Vegas. They say the old Tom Bradley International Terminal - rushed to completion to support the 1984 Olympics and barely updated since - is cramped and outdated, pointing plaza hotel in las vegas to airline lounges, gate areas and arrival halls overflowing with travelers.
The terminal appears well-timed. After falling off considerably plaza hotel in las vegas in 2009 during the global recession, international traffic has risen in each of the past three years. In 2012, 17.1 million international passengers flew through LAX - only about 400,000 off the all-time high reached in 2005.
But a closer examination plaza hotel in las vegas suggests traffic plaza hotel in las vegas levels may not be as auspicious as they appear. In recent years, the number of travelers between Los Angeles and many major world cities has fallen, according to two decades of data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Figures are only available for the first half of 2012, but Sydney traffic was on pace to be 7 percent plaza hotel in las vegas lower than the high reached in 2011, while London was on pace Advertisement to be 11 percent off its 2000 peak. Tokyo traffic, meanwhile, is about 15 percent off its 2000 high. That's true even though two airlines - Delta and All Nippon - have added flights to Tokyo's Haneda airport in recent years.
Making up the difference has been an increase in flights to China. But while few aviation markets plaza hotel in las vegas have more potential than China, the same trends that have caused fewer passengers to Europe, Australia and Japan may soon affect flights to the world's plaza hotel in las vegas most populous country.
plaza hotel in las vegas Los Angeles faces two problems. The first is new more efficient airplanes, such as the Boeing 787, capable of connecting smaller U.S. cities, like Denver and San Diego, to Europe and Asia. Previously, few of these cities could support international plaza hotel in las vegas flights.
plaza hotel in las vegas The second is a preference among airlines to add new routes at airports where they - or one of their alliance partners - is the dominant carrier. At massive hubs like Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta, plaza hotel in las vegas passengers can get off a flight from Asia or Europe and seamlessly transfer to almost any city in America. That's not as true in Los Angeles, where connecting passengers face considerable obstacles.
Few suggest LAX Mayor Villaraigosa and LAX officials unveiled new aircraft gates in the Tom Bradley plaza hotel in las vegas International Terminal (TBIT) on March 6, 2013. (Brad Graverson / Staff Photographer) will no longer be a major player in aviation, or that the new terminal is a poor investment, considering how little the airport has invested in its infrastructure in the past two decades. As the second-largest city in the United States and a major tourist destination, Los Angeles will always have more international flights than just about any other domestic airport.
"L.A. is important and always will be important," plaza hotel in las vegas said Mo Garfinkle, an aviation industry analyst at Tailwind plaza hotel in las vegas Consultants plaza hotel in las vegas in Washington, D.C. "But it's not going to be the center of the universe that it once was. "
As more efficient airplanes become available, routes that were once not economically viable have become possible. That has emboldened airport officials in many smaller cities, who believe they can now attract new overseas flights.
New airplanes are the reason two major Japanese airlines are adding flights between Tokyo and Seattle, San Jose and San Diego, while United Airlines will soon launch service between Denver and Tokyo. All use 787s, which seat roughly half the number of passengers as the four-engine Airbus A380, the largest passenger jet. (Many of the flights have been suspended plaza hotel in las vegas as Boeing fixes mechanical problems, but the 787s are expected to return in several months.)
"Many years ago, places like L.A. and Miami and New York were gateways to the hinterlands," Garfinkle said. "But as aircraft are brought on by the airlines that are more attuned to flying to interior airports or smaller markets, L.A. is naturally going to suffer a little bit. "
Smaller airports can be ruthless. Many see new flights as vital for their region's business community - a Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation report once found each trans-ocean flight is worth $623 million annually to Southern California's economy - and they aggressively lobby airlines, especially at industry conferences.
Los Angeles has only recently begun to market itself in the same manner, some aviation analysts say. But unlike other airports, LAX is reluctant to entice carriers plaza hotel in las vegas with financial incentives - a strategy that could cost it flights.
San Diego International plaza hotel in las vegas Airport has been aggressive in luring airlines, giving money to many airlines that open new service. After British Airways plaza hotel in las vegas began serving San Diego in June 2011, the airport gave the airline more than $1.2 million in subsidies for the first two years of service, an airport spokeswoman said.
"All other airports in the world, if you become a new carrier, they give you incentives," Yuceler said. "In Washington, they offered incentives. Why not in L.A.? I don't know. Maybe they think they have enough flights. You're on your own here in L.A. "
"The historical plaza hotel in las vegas gateway plaza hotel in las vegas may have been Los Angeles or San Francisco," said Robert Mann, a New York-based aviation consultant. "But the hub of the future is the fortress hub in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta or even Salt Lake City."
Many airlines prefer these so-called fortress hubs because they can efficiently move passengers between plaza hotel in las vegas international and domestic flights. Travelers from places like Oklahoma City, Sacramento, San Antonio and St. Louis - cities without a slate of international flights plaza hotel in las vegas - can fly through one of those hubs and board a larger jet to almost anywhere in the world.
Air China, for example, plaza hotel in las vegas will soon add a flight between Beijing and Houston. Chinese plaza hotel in las vegas businessmen and tourists aren't necessarily clamoring to go to Texas, but airline officials knew that, once in Houston, travelers could board a United Airlines flight to just about anywhere in North America.
No airline operates a fortress hub in Los Angeles. Instead, it's one of the few domestic airports at which the three major airlines - American, Delta, and United - all have large operations. That's good for competition, but it keeps any of the three from operating the same sort of intensive hub-and-spoke system they might have elsewhere.
Despite current trends, LAX is still the envy of most other airports. Officials say the airport has service to 57 of the world's top 100 aviation markets. plaza hotel in las vegas And it continues to have multiple daily flights to London, Tokyo, Sydney and Paris.
There are also growth opportunities for Los Angeles, analysts say. Airlines plaza hotel in las vegas could use newer, more efficient planes between Los Angeles and smaller cities in China that currently have no service to the United States. Or it's possible Los Angeles could become a key connection point between Asia and South America.
"It's going to take longer, and there will be a trough period," said Mann, the New York-based consultant. "But I suspect traffic will come back. You'll start to get nonstop service between points that today can't be served whether because of aircraft size or economics. "
Airport executive director Gina Marie Lindsey said recently that Los Angeles could consider future incentives for airlines. But for now, Cordero said airport officials will continue to brag about the amenities and larger space in the new international plaza hotel in las vegas terminal.
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