LAX

LAX

Los Angeles International Airport (IATA: LAX, ICAO: KLAX, FAA LID: LAX), commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California 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.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 East and Southeast Asia, Australasia, Mexico and Central 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. In 2019, LAWA reported approximately 88 percent of travelers at LAX were origination and destination (O&D) passengers, and 12 percent were connecting. It is also the only airport to rank among the top five U.S. airports for both passenger and cargo traffic. 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, Ontario International Airport, and San Bernardino International Airport serve the region.

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