LOS ANGELES, Aug. 31, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Los Angeles International Airport's (LAX) busiest summer travel season since 2001 concludes with the four-day Labor Day weekend. An estimated 785,000 travelers are expected to depart and arrive on flights at LAX from Friday, Sept. 3, through Monday, Sept. 6, up from 700,000 for the same period last year. Airport officials said passenger traffic at LAX for the summer has averaged a 12 percent increase compared with the summer of 2003.
"As forecasted when the summer travel season began at the start of the Memorial Day weekend, passenger traffic at LAX has been extraordinarily strong for the past three months, and we expected the momentum to continue through Labor Day," said Kim Day, interim executive director of Los Angeles World Airports.
For the months of June, July and August of 2004, LAX expects to have served approximately 17.6 million travelers, up 12 percent from 15.7 million for the same three months in 2003. The record for summer travel was set in 2001 when 19 million travelers used LAX during the June-August period.
With airlines forecasting passenger load factors above 90 percent, travelers are advised to allow enough time before their flight to park and undergo the airline ticketing and security screening processes.
Los Angeles Airport Police and other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies will be working together to ensure significant resources are deployed in and around LAX to ensure public safety. With families traveling for late summer vacations and taking advantage of outdoor sports and other activities, airport officials offer the following tips to help passengers speed through LAX:
-- Do not pack or bring prohibited items to LAX. For a complete
list, visit the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
website at
http://www.tsa.gov/public/interapp/editorial/editorial_1254.xml
-- Call your airline to confirm your flight and to learn how early
you should arrive for check-in. Allow sufficient time for
parking, transport to the terminals, check-in, and security
screening of checked luggage and carry-on baggage. Information
from the TSA on wait times for passenger screening can be found at
http://waittime.tsa.dhs.gov/index.html. Wait times listed on the
Internet are only for the passenger screening portion of the
aircraft boarding process, so passengers should add in the time
for security screening of checked luggage plus any time spent
while parking, at airline ticket counters and in ticket counter
lines.
-- Bring government-issued photo identification required of all
passengers over 18 years old to obtain tickets and boarding
passes. Also, place identification on the outside and inside of
all checked and carry-on bags.
-- Watch your bags at all times and remember to retrieve all personal
belongings from passenger screening checkpoints.
-- Place undeveloped photographic film, film in cameras and videotape
in carry-on baggage, as they may be damaged during checked-baggage
security screening.
-- Pack in checked luggage any item that may be used to harm a
person. This includes sports equipment, home and garden tools,
cooking utensils, fishing and hunting equipment, and toys that
resemble weapons. Containers of hazardous materials and aerosol
sprays that may burst in flight are prohibited in checked luggage.
-- Clean sports equipment (such as golf clubs) of any fertilizers or
other chemicals that may set off explosive-detection equipment.
-- Travel light. Passengers are limited to one carry-on baggage and
one personal item, such as a purse, briefcase or diaper bag.
-- Avoid wearing clothing, jewelry and accessories containing metal
that may set off the alarm on metal detectors.
-- For more information about LAX, including real-time vehicular
traffic and flight operational conditions and additional travel
tips, visit the airport's website at www.lawa.org, call (310)
646-5260, or listen to AiRadio 530 AM.