Los Angeles International Airport Guide

Los Angeles International Airport sits in the Westchester neighborhood, 29 km southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It is the busiest airport on the US West Coast and the primary international gateway for Southern California. The airport holds the distinction of being the world's busiest origin-and-destination airport — a higher proportion of passengers begin or end their trips here compared to other major hubs.

LAX is spread across a U-shaped terminal complex with nine passenger terminals and 161 gates. It operates four parallel runways and handled over 76 million passengers in 2024, ranking it among the top five busiest airports in the United States. Delta, United, American, and Southwest each operate major hubs here, while the Tom Bradley International Terminal connects passengers to more than 45 international carriers.

The airport is operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a department of the Los Angeles city government. Major modernization projects are underway, including the Automated People Mover connecting the terminals to a consolidated rent-a-car facility and the Inglewood station on the Metro K Line, which opened in 2022 and provides a rail link to downtown Los Angeles.