document_title: Legal status of tattooing in the United States

question_text: how old do you have to be to get a tatoo in ma

text: In the United States, there is no federal law regulating the practice of tattooing. However, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have statutory laws requiring a person receiving a tattoo be 18 years or older. This is partially based on the legal principle that a minor cannot enter into a legal contract or otherwise render informed consent for a procedure. Most states permit a person under the age of 18 to receive a tattoo with permission of a parent or guardian, but some states outright prohibit tattooing under a certain age regardless of permission, with the exception of medical necessity (such as markings placed for radiation therapy).

text: In all jurisdictions, individual tattooists may also choose to place additional restrictions based on their own moral feelings, such as refusing any clients under a specific age even with parental consent despite it being legal, or limiting the type and/or location of where they are willing to tattoo (such as refusing any work around intimate parts of the body). They may additionally refuse to perform specific artwork, including if they merely find it inappropriate or offensive, or refuse to work on a client that they suspect may be intoxicated. Artists sometimes claim their personal business restrictions are a matter of law even when it is not true, so as to avoid arguments with clients.

text:
Legal Restrictions on Tattooing & Body Modification by State

State
Minimum Age (with parent/guardian consent)
Form of Parent/Guardian Consent
Notes & Exceptions
Intoxicated/Impaired Individuals
Area of Law/Type of Penalty
Licensing & Regulation
Relevant Statute(s) and Rules

Alabama
none specified[1]
informed written consent, signed in presence of the artist/service provider or their agent[1][2]
Ear piercing exempt from Alabama body art laws & rules.[2][3]
cannot be tattooed, branded, or pierced[1][2]
Violations of Alabama Tattoo & Body Piercing laws are a class c misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $100 and/or up to 90 days imprisonment for each violation.[4]
Alabama's Department of Public Health licenses Tattoo, body piercing, & body art facilities, and sets standards for their operation.[5]
Individual tattoo artists, piercers, etc. require a permit.[2]

Ala. Code § 22-1-17A[3][6]
State Board of Health rules on Body Art Practices and Facilities.[2]

Alaska
18 (piercing excepted)[7]
parent/guardian must both give written consent and be present during the procedure[7]
Minors may be pierced with parental consent [7]
no restriction[8]

Alaska Stat. § 08.13.217[7]

Arizona
none specified[9]
parent/guardian must be physically present[9]
Minors can have their ears pierced with the written or verbal consent of a parent/guardian, can have procedures prescribed by a health care provider.[9]
no restriction[9]
Violations are a class 6 felony.[9]
There are no health regulations for tattoo shops in Arizona. [10]
Tattoos. Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-3721[9]

Arkansas
16[11]
parent/guardian must both give written consent and be physically present[12]
none specified[12]
cannot be tattooed, branded, or pierced.[12]

Ark. Stat. Ann. §§ 20-27-1501 et seq.[12]

California
18 (piercing excepted)[13][14]
parent/guardian must be present during procedure
Minors may have their ears pierced with parental consent.[15] They may be pierced elsewhere with parental consent, but not on their genitals or nipples. Permanent cosmetics are permitted on nipples, when done by a cosmetic technician and with parental consent.[14]
no restriction

Body Art. Cal. Health & Safety Code § 119300 to 119328[6][15]
Cal. Penal Code 653[13]

Colorado
18 Express written consent of parent or guardian[16]
parent/guardian must be present during procedure
Persons who are "noticeably impaired" cannot have body art procedures[16]

Body Artists. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 25-4-2101 to 2103[6]

Connecticut
none specified
permission of parent or guardian[17][18]
Minors may have their ears pierced without parental consent[17]
Tattooing may only be performed by physicians, or by registered nurses & technicians working under the supervision of a physician.[18]

no restrictions

Conn. Gen. Stat. §19a-92a,[6][18]
Conn. Gen. Stat. §19a-92g[6][17]

District of Columbia
18 (ear piercing excepted)[19]
written consent (for ear piercing)[19]
minors may have their ears pierced with written parental consent[19]
no restrictions[19]

Body Artists. DC Code § 47-2853.76d[6][19]

Delaware
18[20]
notarized written consent to the specific procedure[20]
none specified[20]
cannot be tattooed, branded, or body pierced[20]

Del. Code Ann. Title 11, Ch 5 §1114(a)[6][20]
Del. Code Ann. Title 16, Ch 2 §122(3)(w)[6]

Florida
16[21]
Must be accompanied by parent or guardian who can show proof of guardianship, both parent and minor must present photo ID, and a consent form must be notarized.[21]
for medical or dental purposes by a licensed physician or dentist[21]
no restriction

Fla. Stat. § 381.00787[6]
Fla. Stat. §381.0775 et seq.[6] Fla. Stat. §381.075[6]

Georgia
18 (body piercing excepted)[22]
For body piercing: prior written consent of parent/guardian[23]
Minors may have their ears pierced without parental consent[23]
Minors may be body pierced with written parental consent[23]
Physicians and Osteopaths or technicians working under their direct supervision can give minors tattoos or produce scars for "medical or cosmetic purposes."[22]
No one can be tattooed within an inch of their eye socket.[24]

no restrictions

Ga. Code § 31-40-1 to 31-40-10[6]
Ga. Code § 16-12-5[6]
Ga. Code § 16-5-71.1[6]

Hawaii
none specified[25]
written consent of parent/guardian[25]

Hawaii Rev. Stat. § 321-13[6]
Hawaii Rev. Stat. § 321-379[6]

Idaho
18[26]
Written informed consent of parent/guardian, executed in the presence of the person performing the procedure, or their agent/employee.[26]
Minors can have their ears pierced without parental consent.[6]
Piercing for medical procedures exempt.[6]

no restrictions

Idaho Code § 18-1523 (2004)[6]

Illinois
18 (body piercings excepted)[27]
Written consent of parent/guardian (for body piercings)[27]
Minors cannot be present in places where tattooing or body piercing is done except in the presence of a parent/guardian.[27]
Minors can have their ears pierced without parent/guardian consent.[27]

no restrictions

Ill. Stat. 720 §5/12-10.1[6]
Ill. Stat. 410 §54/1 t0 54/999[6]

Indiana
none specified[28]
Parent/guardian must both be present during the procedure and provide written permission.[28]
Minors may have their ears pierced without parental consent.[28]
no restrictions

Ind. Code Ann. §35-42-2-7[6][28]
Ind. Code Ann. §16-19-3-4.1[6][29]

Iowa
18[30]
n/a - minors cannot be tattooed[30]
Body piercing is not regulated by state law in Iowa, however county or city laws may regulate it.[31]
no restrictions

Iowa Code §135.37[6]
Iowa Code §135.37[6]

Kansas
16[32]
Parent/guardian must give written consent, written consent must be notarized, and the parent/guardian must be present during the procedure.[32]
Minors may have their ears pierced[33]
no restrictions

Kan. Stat. Ann. §65-1953[6]
Kan. Stat. Ann. §65-1940 to 65-1954[6]

Kentucky
16
Parent/guardian must give written, notarized consent.[34]
none (ear piercing also requires written, notarized consent).[35]

Ky. Rev. Stat. §211.760[6]
Ky. Rev. Stat. §194A.050; 211.760[6]

Louisiana
16
Parent or guardian must consent, and their presence during the procedure is required for tattoos, but not for body piercings.[36]

no restrictions

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §14:93.2[6]
La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:2831 et seq.[6]

Maine
18 (piercings excepted)[37]
For body piercings: prior legal consent of parent/guardian.[38]
Maine law does not require parent/guardian consent for ear piercing[39]
no restrictions

Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. Title 32 § 4201-4329[6]

Maryland
none specified[40]
written consent, which must be retained for 3 years.
Piercing of the ear lobe is exempt[41]
no restriction
Health Department Regulations
A license is not required, but any person performing tattooing or piercing must comply with all the relevant health code regulations[40]
COMAR 10.06.01.02 and 10.06.01.06

Massachusetts
18 (except body piercing other than genitalia)[42]
Minors cannot receive tattoo, branding, or scarification at all. For piercing of areas other than the genitalia, a parent may provide identification and sign the consent document.[42]
Physicians performing for treatment reasons and ear piercing are exempt from regulation.[42]
no restriction
County Health Department regulates body art, but all follow a model regulation set by the state.
Artists must have a permit, and establishments are subject to following specific health department regulations[42]
Model Regulations for Body Art Establishments[42]

Michigan
none specified[43]
Written, informed consent of parent/guardian. Must be executed (signed) in the presences of the person performing the procedure, or their employee.[43]

cannot be tattooed, branded, or body pierced.[43]

Mich. Comp. Laws § 333.13101 to 333.13112[44]

Minnesota
18 (piercings excepted)[45]
For piercings: presence of parent/guardian and a consent form are both required.[45]
Minors cannot be tattooed. They can be body pierced, but not in the nipples or genitals. Branding, scarification, suspension, subdermal implantation, microdermal, and tongue bifurcation are also prohibited for minors.[45]
cannot have any body art procedures.[45]

Minnesota Statutes 146B.07[45]

Mississippi
18
n/a - minors cannot be tattooed
piercing also prohibited except for the outer perimeter or lobe of the ear.
no restriction

Miss.Code Ann. §73-61

Missouri
none specified[46]
For both piercings and tattoos, parent/guardian must sign written consent in the presence of the person performing the procedure, or their employee.[46]

cannot be tattooed, branded or body pierced.[46]
violations are a misdemeanor, punishable with a fine of up to $500 (more for repeat offenses)[46]
The state director of the division of professional registration licenses all body artists, and sets rules & regulations for the operation of body art establishments.[47]
Mo. Rev. Stat. §324.520[46]

Montana
none specified[48]
Parent or guardian must give "explicit, in-person" consent.[48] Montana administrative rules also require that the parent/guardian be present throughout the procedure.[49]

cannot be tattooed or body pierced.[49]
A person who tattoos or body pierces a minor without parent/guardian consent is guilty of Unlawful transactions with children, punishable by a fine of up to $500 or six months in county jail, or both.[48]
Other violations of Montana body art laws are a misdemeanor, with punishments ranging from a fine of $50–100 for a first offense to $300 and/or 90 days in county jail for third and subsequent offense.[50]

Montana's Department of Health and Safety licenses and regulates body art establishments.[51] Local health boards may establish their own licensing and regulatory schemes in lieu of the state department's.[52]
Mont. Code Ann. §45-5-623[48]
Mont. Code Ann. §50-48-101 to 110[53]
Mont. Code Ann. §50-48-201 to 209[54]

Nebraska
none specified[55]
written consent, must be present during procedure
Piercing does not include the external parts of the ear[56]
No restrictions

Nebraska Revised Statute 38-1008, 38-1009, 38-1010, 38-1011, 38-1060, 38-10,165

Nevada
n/a[6]
n/a[6]
Nevada state law does not regulate tattoos, piercings, or other body art. Regional health districts may regulate the practice. The southern Nevada Health District, for example, does not allow minors below the age of 14 to be tattooed, and requires a parent or guardian to provide written consent and be present during the procedure for 14- to 18-year-olds. The southern Nevada district also bans tattoos on those who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.[57]
n/a[6]

n/a[6]

New Hampshire
18 (piercings excepted)[58]
For piercings: parent/guardian must both sign written consent and be present during the procedure.
Minors cannot be tattooed or branded. They may be pierced with parent/guardian consent.[58] Minors may have their ears pierced without parent/guardian consent.[59]
no restrictions

N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 314[6]

New Jersey
none specified[60]
written permission of parent/guardian is required for tattooing and body piercing.[60]
Parent/guardian must be present and sign written consent for ear piercings as well as for body piercing. Minors cannot have genital piercings even with parent/guardian consent.[61]
no restrictions
no restrictions
no restrictions
N.J. Stat. Ann. §2C:40-21
N.J.A.C. 8:27-1 et seq.
N.J. Stat. Ann. §26-1A-7[6]

New Mexico
none specified[62]
Written consent and presence during the procedure.
Medical procedures by physicians and ear piercing are exempt[63]
no restrictions
Administrative Regulations set by the Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists
All body artists are required to be licensed through the state, and are subject to regulations from the Board
Body Art Safe Practices Act. N.M. Stat. Ann. § 61-17B et seq.,[63] N.M. Administrative Code 16.36 et seq.[62]

New York
18 (piercings excepted) [64]
Minors cannot be tattooed with parent/guardian consent. For piercings: parent/guardian must give written consent, signed in presence of the body artist or body art establishment owner.[65]
Written parental consent is not required for ear piercings.[66]
no restrictions

New York Public Health Law, Article 4-A[6][65]
N.Y. Public Health Law §460-466[6]
N.Y. Penal Law § 260.21[6]

North Carolina
18 (piercings excepted)[67]
Minors cannot be tattooed, even with parent/guardian consent. "Prior consent" of parent/guardian is required for body piercings.[67]
Minors may have their ears pierced without parental consent.[67]
no restrictions

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 130A-283[68]
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-400[69]

North Dakota
none specified[70]
Parent/guardian must be present during the procedure and give written consent.[70]

cannot get tattoos or other body art[71]

N.D. Code §23-01-35[72]
N.D. Code §12.1-31-13[6][70]

Ohio
none specified[73]
Parent/guardian must both sign a consent form and "appear in person at the business at the time the procedure is performed."[73]
none - parent/guardian consent and presence is also required for ear piercings.[73]
no restrictions

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §3730.01 to 3730.99[6][73]

Oklahoma
18 (piercings excepted)[74]
Minors cannot be tattooed, even with parent/guardian consent. For piercings: parent/guardian must both give written consent and be present during the procedure.[74]
Ear piercing is not governed/restricted by Oklahoma law.[74]
Scleral tattooing is illegal.[74]

cannot be tattooed.[74]

Okla. Stat. Title 21 §842.1, 842.2, 842.3[6]

Oregon
18 (piercings excepted)[75]
For piercings: parent/guardian must give written consent and present proof of identity.[76][77]
Minors can only be tattooed with the authorization of a physician.[75]
Scarification and dermal implants are prohibited[78]
Persons with sunburns or skin diseases or disorders cannot be tattooed or pierced.[75][77]
Minors cannot be pierced on the genitals or nipples, even with parent/guardian consent.[76]
Piercing on testes, deep shaft (corpus cavernosa), uvula, eyelids and sub-clavicle are all prohibited.[77]

cannot be tattooed or pierced.[75][77]
Violations of Oregon body art laws are a misdemeanor.[79]
Violations of Health Licensing Office rules are fined (various amounts).[80]

Both body artists and body art establishments are licensed by the Oregon Health Licensing Office.[81] With the assistance of a Board of Body Art practitioners, the Health Licensing Office also sets detailed rules and regulations for body art.[82]
Or. Rev. Stat. § 690.350 et seq
Or. Rev. Stat. § 690.401 to 410
Or. Rev. Stat. § 679.500[6]
Health Licensing Office Rules, especially Divisions 900, 905, 915 & 920[82]

Pennsylvania
none specified[83]
parent/guardian must both give consent and be present during the procedure.[83]

no restrictions

Pa. Cons. Stat. Title 18 § 6311[6][83]

Rhode Island
18 (piercings excepted)[84][85]
Minors cannot be tattooed.[84] For piercings: parent/guardian must both give consent and be present for the procedure.[85]

no restrictions
Tattooing a minor is a criminal offense (misdemeanor), maximum fine $300[84]
Tattooing and body art are regulated by the department of health, artists must be registered.[85]
RI Gen L § 23-1-39[85]
RI Gen L § 11-9-15[84]

South Carolina
18 (piercings excepted)[86][87]
Minors cannot be tattooed.[86] For piercings: parent/guardian must either give written, notarized consent or be present during the procedure.[87]
Head, face, and neck tattoos are illegal.[86]
cannot be tattooed or body pierced[86][88]
Under the Health Code, persons violating restrictions on tattooing and body piercing are guilty of a misdemeanor. Upon conviction, they may be fined up to $2500 or imprisoned for a year, or both.[86][87]
Tattoo and body piercing facilities are regulated by the Department of Health and Environmental Control. Tattoo facilities are licensed, body piercing facilities require a permit, and artists must be registered[89][90]
S.C. Code § 44-32-10 to 44-32-120[88]
S.C. Code § 44-34-10 to 44-34-110[91]

South Dakota
none specified[92]
Parent/guardian must sign a consent form.[92]

cannot be tattooed or pierced[93][94]
Tattooing a minor is a class 2 misdemeanor.[95]
Tattooing and Body Piercing are governed by Department of Health rules.[96] Municipalities may set stricter regulations, and have the authority to license body artists.[95]
S.D. Codified Laws Ann. §26-10-19[92]
S.D. Laws § 9-34-17[95]

Tennessee
18 (piercings excepted)[97][98]
For tattoos that cover an existing tattoo (see Notes & Exceptions): Parent/Guardian must be present during the procedure.[97]
For piercings: Parent/Guardian must give written consent, be present during the procedure.[98]

Minors over the age of sixteen may be tattooed to cover up an existing tattoo, with parent/guardian consent.[97]

Minors who lie about their age to be tattooed are guilty of a "delinquent act," are required to pay a fine of $50–$250 and serve at least 20 hours of community service.[97]
Tattooing a minor is a class a misdemeanor,[97] breach of body piercing law is a class b misdemeanor.[99]

Tattoo artists and body piercers are licensed by the state department of health, tattoo shops require a certificate from the local health department.[100][101]
Tenn. Code §§ 62-38-201-310[102]

Texas
18 (piercings excepted)[103][104]
For body piercings and for covering existing tattoos (see Notes & Exceptions): Parent/guardian must be present during procedure, sign an affidavit[103][104]
Ear piercing is exempt from body piercing statutes[105]
Minors may, with parent/guardian consent, be tattooed to cover up an existing tattoo that has offensive, gang-related, or drug-related content, or "other words, symbols, or markings that the person's parent or guardian considers would be in the best interest of the person to cover"[103]
Tongue splitting prohibited.[106]

Cannot be tattooed or pierced.[103][107]
Misrepresenting one's age to get a tattoo, or to get a piercing without parental consent, is a class B misdemeanor[103][104]
Violations of Texas tattooing & body piercing statute are a Class A misdemeanor, with each day of violation counting as a separate offense.[108]
Health Commissioner can impose a fine of up to $5000 on artists & shops for each violation[109]

Tattoo artists and body piercers must be registered with the Texas Department of Health[110] Tattoo and body piercing shops must be licensed[111]
Texas Health and Safety Code Ann. §146[112]

Utah
none specified[113]
Parent/guardian must be present during the procedure, give written permission, and provide proof of identity.[113]
Parental consent not required by law for ear piercing[113]

Tattooing or body piercing a minor is a class b misdemeanor, shops can be fined up to $1000 for each violation.[113]

Utah Code Ann. §76-10-2201[6]

Vermont
none specified[114]

Tattooists and body piercers must be registered.[114]
Vt. Stat. Ann. Title 26 §4101 to 4109[6][115]

Virginia
none specified[116]
Parent/Guardian must be present during the procedure.[116]
Virginia law does not limit minors' ability to have their ears pierced.[116]

Tattooing or body piercing a minor is a class 1 misdemeanor[116]
Tattoo artists and body piercers, as well as the operators of tattoo and body piercing establishments, are licensed by the state.[117][118]
Civic/local governments are empowered to regulate tattoo and body piercing establishments.[119]

Va. Code §54.1-700 et seq.
Va. Code §15.2-912
Va. Code § 18.2-371.3.[6]

Washington
18 (piercings excepted)[120]

cannot have tattoos, body piercings, or other body art.[121]

Wash. Code §26.28.085[120]
Wash. Code § 18.300[122]
Wash. Code § 246-145-001 to 060[123]
Wash. Code §70.54[124]

West Virginia
none specified[125]
parent/guardian must give written consent[125]

All persons receiving a tattoo must attest they are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.[125]

Tattoo shop owners and body piercing studios must register with local board of health, and must be registered as a business with the state[126][127][128]
W. Va. Code §16-37
W. Va. Code §16-38[129]

Wisconsin
18[130]
n/a (tattooing not permitted under 18)
Physicians in the course of professional practice are exempt
no restriction
Tattooing a minor or even offering to do so is subject to a fine of up to $200
Artists must be satisfy training requirements and obtain a license from the health department. Establishments are subject to inspection and licensing[131]
Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations 948.70 and 252.235

Wyoming
none specified[132]
Verbal consent, presence during procedure.[132]
Procedures performed under the supervision of a licensed physician, and piercing of the ear, do not count as body art for this law.
no restriction[132]
Misdemeanor criminal offense, punishable by fine and prison time[132]

Wyoming Statute §14-3-107[132]


document_title: Food web

question_text: what is another name for plants in the food web

root

text: Food web

text: Taxonomy of a food web[edit]

text: Food webs are the road-maps through Darwin's famous 'entangled bank' and have a long history in ecology. Like maps of unfamiliar ground, food webs appear bewilderingly complex. They were often published to make just that point. Yet recent studies have shown that food webs from a wide range of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine communities share a remarkable list of patterns.[3]:669

tag: div

text: Links in food webs map the feeding connections (who eats whom) in an ecological community. Food cycle is an obsolete term that is synonymous with food web. Ecologists can broadly group all life forms into one of two trophic layers, the autotrophs and the heterotrophs. Autotrophs produce more biomass energy, either chemically without the sun's energy or by capturing the sun's energy in photosynthesis, than they use during metabolic respiration. Heterotrophs consume rather than produce biomass energy as they metabolize, grow, and add to levels of secondary production. A food web depicts a collection of polyphagous heterotrophic consumers that network and cycle the flow of energy and nutrients from a productive base of self-feeding autotrophs.[3][4][5]

tag: p

text: The base or basal species in a food web are those species without prey and can include autotrophs or saprophytic detritivores (i.e., the community of decomposers in soil, biofilms, and periphyton). Feeding connections in the web are called trophic links. The number of trophic links per consumer is a measure of food web connectance. Food chains are nested within the trophic links of food webs. Food chains are linear (noncyclic) feeding pathways that trace monophagous consumers from a base species up to the top consumer, which is usually a larger predatory carnivore.[6][7][8]

text: Linkages connect to nodes in a food web, which are aggregates of biological taxa called trophic species. Trophic species are functional groups that have the same predators and prey in a food web. Common examples of an aggregated node in a food web might include parasites, microbes, decomposers, saprotrophs, consumers, or predators, each containing many species in a web that can otherwise be connected to other trophic species.[9][10]

text: Trophic levels[edit]

text: Food webs have trophic levels and positions. Basal species, such as plants, form the first level and are the resource limited species that feed on no other living creature in the web. Basal species can be autotrophs or detritivores, including "decomposing organic material and its associated microorganisms which we defined as detritus, micro-inorganic material and associated microorganisms (MIP), and vascular plant material."[11]:94 Most autotrophs capture the sun's energy in chlorophyll, but some autotrophs (the chemolithotrophs) obtain energy by the chemical oxidation of inorganic compounds and can grow in dark environments, such as the sulfur bacterium Thiobacillus, which lives in hot sulfur springs. The top level has top (or apex) predators which no other species kills directly for its food resource needs. The intermediate levels are filled with omnivores that feed on more than one trophic level and cause energy to flow through a number of food pathways starting from a basal species.[12]

text: In the simplest scheme, the first trophic level (level 1) is plants, then herbivores (level 2), and then carnivores (level 3). The trophic level is equal to one more than the chain length, which is the number of links connecting to the base. The base of the food chain (primary producers or detritivores) is set at zero.[3][13] Ecologists identify feeding relations and organize species into trophic species through extensive gut content analysis of different species. The technique has been improved through the use of stable isotopes to better trace energy flow through the web.[14] It was once thought that omnivory was rare, but recent evidence suggests otherwise. This realization has made trophic classifications more complex.[15]

text: Trophic dynamics[edit]

text: The trophic level concept was introduced in a historical landmark paper on trophic dynamics in 1942 by Raymond L. Lindeman. The basis of trophic dynamics is the transfer of energy from one part of the ecosystem to another.[13][16] The trophic dynamic concept has served as a useful quantitative heuristic, but it has several major limitations including the precision by which an organism can be allocated to a specific trophic level. Omnivores, for example, are not restricted to any single level. Nonetheless, recent research has found that discrete trophic levels do exist, but "above the herbivore trophic level, food webs are better characterized as a tangled web of omnivores."[15]

text: A central question in the trophic dynamic literature is the nature of control and regulation over resources and production. Ecologists use simplified one trophic position food chain models (producer, carnivore, decomposer). Using these models, ecologists have tested various types of ecological control mechanisms. For example, herbivores generally have an abundance of vegetative resources, which meant that their populations were largely controlled or regulated by predators. This is known as the top-down hypothesis or 'green-world' hypothesis. Alternatively to the top-down hypothesis, not all plant material is edible and the nutritional quality or antiherbivore defenses of plants (structural and chemical) suggests a bottom-up form of regulation or control.[17][18][19] Recent studies have concluded that both "top-down" and "bottom-up" forces can influence community structure and the strength of the influence is environmentally context dependent.[20][21] These complex multitrophic interactions involve more than two trophic levels in a food web.[22]

text: Another example of a multi-trophic interaction is a trophic cascade, in which predators help to increase plant growth and prevent overgrazing by suppressing herbivores. Links in a food-web illustrate direct trophic relations among species, but there are also indirect effects that can alter the abundance, distribution, or biomass in the trophic levels. For example, predators eating herbivores indirectly influence the control and regulation of primary production in plants. Although the predators do not eat the plants directly, they regulate the population of herbivores that are directly linked to plant trophism. The net effect of direct and indirect relations is called trophic cascades. Trophic cascades are separated into species-level cascades, where only a subset of the food-web dynamic is impacted by a change in population numbers, and community-level cascades, where a change in population numbers has a dramatic effect on the entire food-web, such as the distribution of plant biomass.[23]

text: Energy flow and biomass[edit]

text: The Law of Conservation of Mass dates from Antoine Lavoisier's 1789 discovery that mass is neither created nor destroyed in chemical reactions. In other words, the mass of any one element at the beginning of a reaction will equal the mass of that element at the end of the reaction.[24]:11

text: Food webs depict energy flow via trophic linkages. Energy flow is directional, which contrasts against the cyclic flows of material through the food web systems.[26] Energy flow "typically includes production, consumption, assimilation, non-assimilation losses (feces), and respiration (maintenance costs)."[5]:5 In a very general sense, energy flow (E) can be defined as the sum of metabolic production (P) and respiration (R), such that E=P+R.

text: Biomass represents stored energy. However, concentration and quality of nutrients and energy is variable. Many plant fibers, for example, are indigestible to many herbivores leaving grazer community food webs more nutrient limited than detrital food webs where bacteria are able to access and release the nutrient and energy stores.[27][28] "Organisms usually extract energy in the form of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. These polymers have a dual role as supplies of energy as well as building blocks; the part that functions as energy supply results in the production of nutrients (and carbon dioxide, water, and heat). Excretion of nutrients is, therefore, basic to metabolism."[28]:1230–1231 The units in energy flow webs are typically a measure mass or energy per m2 per unit time. Different consumers are going to have different metabolic assimilation efficiencies in their diets. Each trophic level transforms energy into biomass. Energy flow diagrams illustrate the rates and efficiency of transfer from one trophic level into another and up through the hierarchy.[29][30]

text: It is the case that the biomass of each trophic level decreases from the base of the chain to the top. This is because energy is lost to the environment with each transfer as entropy increases. About eighty to ninety percent of the energy is expended for the organism’s life processes or is lost as heat or waste. Only about ten to twenty percent of the organism’s energy is generally passed to the next organism.[31] The amount can be less than one percent in animals consuming less digestible plants, and it can be as high as forty percent in zooplankton consuming phytoplankton.[32] Graphic representations of the biomass or productivity at each tropic level are called ecological pyramids or trophic pyramids. The transfer of energy from primary producers to top consumers can also be characterized by energy flow diagrams.[33]

text: Food chain[edit]

text: A common metric used to quantify food web trophic structure is food chain length. Food chain length is another way of describing food webs as a measure of the number of species encountered as energy or nutrients move from the plants to top predators.[34]:269 There are different ways of calculating food chain length depending on what parameters of the food web dynamic are being considered: connectance, energy, or interaction.[34] In its simplest form, the length of a chain is the number of links between a trophic consumer and the base of the web. The mean chain length of an entire web is the arithmetic average of the lengths of all chains in a food web.[35][12]

text: In a simple predator-prey example, a deer is one step removed from the plants it eats (chain length = 1) and a wolf that eats the deer is two steps removed from the plants (chain length = 2). The relative amount or strength of influence that these parameters have on the food web address questions about:

text:
the identity or existence of a few dominant species (called strong interactors or keystone species)
the total number of species and food-chain length (including many weak interactors) and
how community structure, function and stability is determined.[36][37]

tag: ul

text: Ecological pyramids[edit]

text: In a pyramid of numbers, the number of consumers at each level decreases significantly, so that a single top consumer, (e.g., a polar bear or a human), will be supported by a much larger number of separate producers. There is usually a maximum of four or five links in a food chain, although food chains in aquatic ecosystems are more often longer than those on land. Eventually, all the energy in a food chain is dispersed as heat.[4]

text: Ecological pyramids place the primary producers at the base. They can depict different numerical properties of ecosystems, including numbers of individuals per unit of area, biomass (g/m2), and energy (k cal m−2 yr−1). The emergent pyramidal arrangement of trophic levels with amounts of energy transfer decreasing as species become further removed from the source of production is one of several patterns that is repeated amongst the planets ecosystems.[2]\[3][38] The size of each level in the pyramid generally represents biomass, which can be measured as the dry weight of an organism.[39] Autotrophs may have the highest global proportion of biomass, but they are closely rivaled or surpassed by microbes.[40][41]

text: Pyramid structure can vary across ecosystems and across time. In some instances biomass pyramids can be inverted. This pattern is often identified in aquatic and coral reef ecosystems. The pattern of biomass inversion is attributed to different sizes of producers. Aquatic communities are often dominated by producers that are smaller than the consumers that have high growth rates. Aquatic producers, such as planktonic algae or aquatic plants, lack the large accumulation of secondary growth as exists in the woody trees of terrestrial ecosystems. However, they are able to reproduce quickly enough to support a larger biomass of grazers. This inverts the pyramid. Primary consumers have longer lifespans and slower growth rates that accumulates more biomass than the producers they consume. Phytoplankton live just a few days, whereas the zooplankton eating the phytoplankton live for several weeks and the fish eating the zooplankton live for several consecutive years.[42] Aquatic predators also tend to have a lower death rate than the smaller consumers, which contributes to the inverted pyramidal pattern. Population structure, migration rates, and environmental refuge for prey are other possible causes for pyramids with biomass inverted. Energy pyramids, however, will always have an upright pyramid shape if all sources of food energy are included and this is dictated by the second law of thermodynamics.[4][43]

text: Material flux and recycling[edit]

text: Many of the Earth's elements and minerals (or mineral nutrients) are contained within the tissues and diets of organisms. Hence, mineral and nutrient cycles trace food web energy pathways. Ecologists employ stoichiometry to analyze the ratios of the main elements found in all organisms: carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P). There is a large transitional difference between many terrestrial and aquatic systems as C:P and C:N ratios are much higher in terrestrial systems while N:P ratios are equal between the two systems.[44][45][46] Mineral nutrients are the material resources that organisms need for growth, development, and vitality. Food webs depict the pathways of mineral nutrient cycling as they flow through organisms.[4][16] Most of the primary production in an ecosystem is not consumed, but is recycled by detritus back into useful nutrients.[47] Many of the Earth's microorganisms are involved in the formation of minerals in a process called biomineralization.[48][49][50] Bacteria that live in detrital sediments create and cycle nutrients and biominerals.[51] Food web models and nutrient cycles have traditionally been treated separately, but there is a strong functional connection between the two in terms of stability, flux, sources, sinks, and recycling of mineral nutrients.[52][53]

text: Kinds of food webs[edit]

text: Food webs are necessarily aggregated and only illustrate a tiny portion of the complexity of real ecosystems. For example, the number of species on the planet are likely in the general order of 107, over 95% of these species consist of microbes and invertebrates, and relatively few have been named or classified by taxonomists.[54][55][56] It is explicitly understood that natural systems are 'sloppy' and that food web trophic positions simplify the complexity of real systems that sometimes overemphasize many rare interactions. Most studies focus on the larger influences where the bulk of energy transfer occurs.[17] "These omissions and problems are causes for concern, but on present evidence do not present insurmountable difficulties."[3]:669

text: There are different kinds or categories of food webs:

text:
Source web - one or more node(s), all of their predators, all the food these predators eat, and so on.
Sink web - one or more node(s), all of their prey, all the food that these prey eat, and so on.
Community (or connectedness) web - a group of nodes and all the connections of who eats whom.
Energy flow web - quantified fluxes of energy between nodes along links between a resource and a consumer.[3][39]
Paleoecological web - a web that reconstructs ecosystems from the fossil record.[57]
Functional web - emphasizes the functional significance of certain connections having strong interaction strength and greater bearing on community organization, more so than energy flow pathways. Functional webs have compartments, which are sub-groups in the larger network where there are different densities and strengths of interaction.[37][58] Functional webs emphasize that "the importance of each population in maintaining the integrity of a community is reflected in its influence on the growth rates of other populations."[39]:511

text: Within these categories, food webs can be further organized according to the different kinds of ecosystems being investigated. For example, human food webs, agricultural food webs, detrital food webs, marine food webs, aquatic food webs, soil food webs, Arctic (or polar) food webs, terrestrial food webs, and microbial food webs. These characterizations stem from the ecosystem concept, which assumes that the phenomena under investigation (interactions and feedback loops) are sufficient to explain patterns within boundaries, such as the edge of a forest, an island, a shoreline, or some other pronounced physical characteristic.[59][60][61]

text: Detrital web[edit]

text: In a detrital web, plant and animal matter is broken down by decomposers, e.g., bacteria and fungi, and moves to detritivores and then carnivores.[62] There are often relationships between the detrital web and the grazing web. Mushrooms produced by decomposers in the detrital web become a food source for deer, squirrels, and mice in the grazing web. Earthworms eaten by robins are detritivores consuming decaying leaves.[63]

text: "Detritus can be broadly defined as any form of non-living organic matter, including different types of plant tissue (e.g. leaf litter, dead wood, aquatic macrophytes, algae), animal tissue (carrion), dead microbes, faeces (manure, dung, faecal pellets, guano, frass), as well as products secreted, excreted or exuded from organisms (e.g. extra-cellular polymers, nectar, root exudates and leachates, dissolved organic matter, extra-cellular matrix, mucilage). The relative importance of these forms of detritus, in terms of origin, size and chemical composition, varies across ecosystems."[47]:585

text: Quantitative food webs[edit]

text: Ecologists collect data on trophic levels and food webs to statistically model and mathematically calculate parameters, such as those used in other kinds of network analysis (e.g., graph theory), to study emergent patterns and properties shared among ecosystems. There are different ecological dimensions that can be mapped to create more complicated food webs, including: species composition (type of species), richness (number of species), biomass (the dry weight of plants and animals), productivity (rates of conversion of energy and nutrients into growth), and stability (food webs over time). A food web diagram illustrating species composition shows how change in a single species can directly and indirectly influence many others. Microcosm studies are used to simplify food web research into semi-isolated units such as small springs, decaying logs, and laboratory experiments using organisms that reproduce quickly, such as daphnia feeding on algae grown under controlled environments in jars of water.[36][64]

text: While the complexity of real food webs connections are difficult to decipher, ecologists have found mathematical models on networks an invaluable tool for gaining insight into the structure, stability, and laws of food web behaviours relative to observable outcomes. "Food web theory centers around the idea of connectance."[65]:1648 Quantitative formulas simplify the complexity of food web structure. The number of trophic links (tL), for example, is converted into a connectance value:

text: where, S(S-1)/2 is the maximum number of binary connections among S species.[65] "Connectance (C) is the fraction of all possible links that are realized (L/S2) and represents a standard measure of food web complexity..."[66]:12913 The distance (d) between every species pair in a web is averaged to compute the mean distance between all nodes in a web (D)[66] and multiplied by the total number of links (L) to obtain link-density (LD), which is influenced by scale dependent variables such as species richness. These formulas are the basis for comparing and investigating the nature of non-random patterns in the structure of food web networks among many different types of ecosystems.[66][67]

text: Scaling laws, complexity, choas, and patterned correlates are common features attributed to food web structure.[68][69]

text: Complexity and stability[edit]

text: Food webs are complex. Complexity is a measure of an increasing number of permutations and it is also a metaphorical term that conveys the mental intractability or limits concerning unlimited algorithmic possibilities. In food web terminology, complexity is a product of the number of species and connectance.[70][71][72] Connectance is "the fraction of all possible links that are realized in a network".[73]:12917 These concepts were derived and stimulated through the suggestion that complexity leads to stability in food webs, such as increasing the number of trophic levels in more species rich ecosystems. This hypothesis was challenged through mathematical models suggesting otherwise, but subsequent studies have shown that the premise holds in real systems.[70][74]

text: At different levels in the hierarchy of life, such as the stability of a food web, "the same overall structure is maintained in spite of an ongoing flow and change of components."[75]:476 The farther a living system (e.g., ecosystem) sways from equilibrium, the greater its complexity.[75] Complexity has multiple meanings in the life sciences and in the public sphere that confuse its application as a precise term for analytical purposes in science.[72][76] Complexity in the life sciences (or biocomplexity) is defined by the "properties emerging from the interplay of behavioral, biological, physical, and social interactions that affect, sustain, or are modified by living organisms, including humans".[77]:1018

text: Several concepts have emerged from the study of complexity in food webs. Complexity explains many principals pertaining to self-organization, non-linearity, interaction, cybernetic feedback, discontinuity, emergence, and stability in food webs. Nestedness, for example, is defined as "a pattern of interaction in which specialists interact with species that form perfect subsets of the species with which generalists interact",[78]:575 "—that is, the diet of the most specialized species is a subset of the diet of the next more generalized species, and its diet a subset of the next more generalized, and so on."[79] Until recently, it was thought that food webs had little nested structure, but empirical evidence shows that many published webs have nested subwebs in their assembly.[80]

text: Food webs are complex networks. As networks, they exhibit similar structural properties and mathematical laws that have been used to describe other complex systems, such as small world and scale free properties. The small world attribute refers to the many loosely connected nodes, non-random dense clustering of a few nodes (i.e., trophic or keystone species in ecology), and small path length compared to a regular lattice.[73][81] "Ecological networks, especially mutualistic networks, are generally very heterogeneous, consisting of areas with sparse links among species and distinct areas of tightly linked species. These regions of high link density are often referred to as cliques, hubs, compartments, cohesive sub-groups, or modules...Within food webs, especially in aquatic systems, nestedness appears to be related to body size because the diets of smaller predators tend to be nested subsets of those of larger predators (Woodward & Warren 2007; YvonDurocher et al. 2008), and phylogenetic constraints, whereby related taxa are nested based on their common evolutionary history, are also evident (Cattin et al. 2004)."[82]:257 "Compartments in food webs are subgroups of taxa in which many strong interactions occur within the subgroups and few weak interactions occur between the subgroups. Theoretically, compartments increase the stability in networks, such as food webs."[58]

text: Food webs are also complex in the way that they change in scale, seasonally, and geographically. The components of food webs, including organisms and mineral nutrients, cross the thresholds of ecosystem boundaries. This has led to the concept or area of study known as cross-boundary subsidy.[59][60] "This leads to anomalies, such as food web calculations determining that an ecosystem can support one half of a top carnivore, without specifying which end."[61] Nonetheless, real differences in structure and function have been identified when comparing different kinds of ecological food webs, such as terrestrial vs. aquatic food webs.[83]

text: History of food webs[edit]

text: Food webs serve as a framework to help ecologists organize the complex network of interactions among species observed in nature and around the world. One of the earliest descriptions of a food chain was described by a medieval Afro-Arab scholar named Al-Jahiz: "All animals, in short, cannot exist without food, neither can the hunting animal escape being hunted in his turn."[84]:143 The earliest graphical depiction of a food web was by Lorenzo Camerano in 1880, followed independently by those of Pierce and colleagues in 1912 and Victor Shelford in 1913.[85][86] Two food webs about herring were produced by Victor Summerhayes and Charles Elton[87] and Alister Hardy[88] in 1923 and 1924. Charles Elton subsequently pioneered the concept of food cycles, food chains, and food size in his classical 1927 book "Animal Ecology"; Elton's 'food cycle' was replaced by 'food web' in a subsequent ecological text.[89] After Charles Elton's use of food webs in his 1927 synthesis,[90] they became a central concept in the field of ecology. Elton[89] organized species into functional groups, which formed the basis for the trophic system of classification in Raymond Lindeman's classic and landmark paper in 1942 on trophic dynamics.[16][37][91] The notion of a food web has a historical foothold in the writings of Charles Darwin and his terminology, including an "entangled bank", "web of life", "web of complex relations", and in reference to the decomposition actions of earthworms he talked about "the continued movement of the particles of earth". Even earlier, in 1768 John Bruckner described nature as "one continued web of life".[3][92][93][94]

text: Interest in food webs increased after Robert Paine's experimental and descriptive study of intertidal shores[95] suggesting that food web complexity was key to maintaining species diversity and ecological stability. Many theoretical ecologists, including Sir Robert May[96] and Stuart Pimm,[97] were prompted by this discovery and others to examine the mathematical properties of food webs.


document_title: Los Angeles International Airport

question_text: what is the meaning of lax is in los angeles airport

question_tokens: what is the meaning of lax is in los angeles airport

text: Los Angeles International Airport

text: History[edit]

text: In 1928, the Los Angeles City Council selected 640 acres (1.00 sq mi; 260 ha) in the southern part of Westchester for a new airport. The fields of wheat, barley and lima beans were converted into dirt landing strips without any terminal buildings. It was named Mines Field for William W. Mines, the real estate agent who arranged the deal.[10] The first structure, Hangar No. 1, was erected in 1929 and is in the National Register of Historic Places.[11]

text: Mines Field opened as the airport of Los Angeles in 1930 and the city purchased it to be a municipal airfield in 1937. The name became Los Angeles Airport in 1941 and Los Angeles International Airport in 1949.[12] In the 1930s the main airline airports were Burbank Airport (then known as Union Air Terminal, and later Lockheed) in Burbank and the Grand Central Airport in Glendale. (In 1940 the airlines were all at Burbank except for Mexicana's three departures a week from Glendale; in late 1946 most airline flights moved to LAX, but Burbank always retained a few.)[13]

text: Mines Field did not extend west of Sepulveda Boulevard;[14] Sepulveda was rerouted circa 1950 to loop around the west ends of the extended east–west runways (now runways 25L and 25R), which by November 1950 were 6,000 feet (1,800 m) long.[15] A tunnel was completed in 1953 allowing Sepulveda Boulevard to revert to straight and pass beneath the two runways; it was the first tunnel of its kind. For the next few years the two runways were 8,500 feet (2,600 m) long.[12][16]

text: The "X" in LAX[edit]

text: Before the 1930s, existing airports used a two-letter abbreviation based on the weather stations at the airports. At that time, "LA" served as the designation for Los Angeles Airport. But with the rapid growth in the aviation industry the designations expanded to three letters c. 1947, and "LA" became "LAX." The letter "X" has no specific meaning in this identifier.[17] "LAX" is also used for the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro and by Amtrak for Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.

text: Aircraft spotting[edit]

text: The "Imperial Hill" area (also known as Clutter's Park) in El Segundo is a prime location for aircraft spotting, especially for takeoffs. Another popular spotting location sits under the final approach for runways 24 L&R on a lawn next to the Westchester In-N-Out Burger on Sepulveda Boulevard. This is one of the few remaining locations in Southern California from which spotters may watch such a wide variety of low-flying commercial airliners from directly underneath a flight path.

text: Space Shuttle Endeavour[edit]

text: At 12:51 p.m. on Friday, September 21, 2012, a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft carrying the Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at LAX on runway 25L.[18] An estimated 10,000 people saw the shuttle land. Interstate 105 was backed up for miles at a standstill. Imperial Highway was shut down for spectators. It was quickly taken off the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747, and was moved to a United Airlines hangar. The shuttle spent about a month in the hangar while it was prepared to be transported to the California Science Center.

text: Theme Building[edit]

text: The distinctive white googie "Theme Building", designed by Pereira & Luckman architect Paul Williams and constructed in 1961 by Robert E. McKee Construction Co., resembles a flying saucer that has landed on its four legs. A restaurant with a sweeping view of the airport is suspended beneath two arches that form the legs. The Los Angeles City Council designated the building a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1992. A $4 million renovation, with retro-futuristic interior and electric lighting designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, was completed before the "Encounter Restaurant" opened there in 1997.[19] Visitors are able to take the elevator up to the roof of the "Theme Building", which closed after the September 11, 2001 attacks for security reasons and reopened to the public on weekends beginning on July 10, 2010.[20] Additionally, a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks is located on the grounds, as three of the four hijacked planes were originally destined for LAX.[21]

text: Runways[edit]

text: There are 5 Runways at LAX. All 4 Runways are Long and Parallel, aligned roughly East-West. The 4th Runway starts near Imperial Highway and ends near the 5th Runway and Westchester Parkway. 24R/06L and 24L/06R (designated the North Airfield Complex) are north of the airport terminals, and 25R/07L and 25L/07R (designated the South Airfield Complex) are south of the airport terminals. From North to South, the runways are designated. There is also a 5th Runway that is Super Long which starts from the park near Sepulveda Boulevard and 92nd Street and ends close to Vista Del Mar Beach Park.

text:
Runways at Los Angeles International

E
Length
Width
W
Notes

06L →
8,926 ft
2,721 m
150 ft
46 m
← 24R

06R →
10,885 ft
3,318 m
150 ft
46 m
← 24L

Terminal Area

07L →
12,923 ft
3,939 m
150 ft
46 m
← 25R

07R →
11,095 ft
3,382 m
200 ft
61 m
← 25L

tag: table

text: Since 1972, Los Angeles World Airports has adopted the "Preferential Runway Use Policy" to minimize noise. During daylight hours (0630 to 0000), the normal air traffic pattern is the "Westerly Operations" plan, named for the prevailing west winds. Under "Westerly Operations", departing aircraft take off to the west, and arriving aircraft approach from the east. To reduce noise from arriving aircraft during night hours (0000 to 0630), the air traffic pattern becomes "Over-Ocean Operations". Under "Over-Ocean", departing aircraft continue to take off to the west, but arriving aircraft approach from the west unless otherwise required to approach from the east due to reduced visibility or easterly winds. As the name implies, "Easterly Operations" is used when prevailing winds have shifted to originate from the east, typically during inclement weather and Santa Ana conditions. Under "Easterly Operations", departing aircraft take off to the east, and arriving aircraft approach from the west.[22]

text: The "inboard" runways (06R/24L and 07L/25R, closest to the central terminal area) are preferred for departures, and the "outboard" runways are preferred for arrivals. During noise-sensitive hours (2200 to 0700) and "Over-Ocean Operations", the "inboard" runways are used preferentially, with arrivals shifting primarily to 06R/24L and departures from 07L/25R. Historically, over 90% of flights have used the "inboard" departures and "outboard" arrivals scheme.[22]

text: The South Airfield Complex tends to see more operations than the North, due to a larger number of passenger gates and air cargo operations.[22] Runways in the North Airfield Complex are separated by 700 feet (210 m).[23] Plans have been advanced and approved to increase the separation by 260 feet (79 m), which would allow a central taxiway between runways, despite opposition from residents living north of LAX.[24] The separation between the two runways in the South Airfield Complex has already increased by 55 feet (17 m) to accommodate a central taxiway.[25][26]

text: Terminals[edit]

text: Overview[edit]

text: LAX has nine passenger terminals with a total of 128 gates arranged in the shape of the letter U or a horseshoe. The terminals are served by a shuttle bus. The Tom Bradley International Terminal and Terminals 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are all connected airside via an overground passage between Terminal 4 and the Tom Bradley International Terminal, an underground tunnel between Terminals 4, 5 and 6 and above-ground walkways between Terminals 6, 7, and 8. Additional airside shuttle buses operate among Terminals 4, 6, and the American Eagle remote terminal, as well as between Terminals 2, 3, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal. There are no physical airside connections between any of the other terminals.

text: In addition to these terminals, there are 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m2) of cargo facilities at LAX, and a heliport operated by Bravo Aviation. Qantas[27] has a maintenance facility at LAX, even though it is not a hub.

text: Terminal Arrangements[edit]

text:
Terminal 1 is exclusively used by Southwest Airlines. Departing International passengers check-in at Terminal 1, and are bused to TBIT where Southwest international flights operate
Terminal 2 is used by Delta Air Lines and its codeshare partners: Aer Lingus, Aeromexico, Virgin Atlantic and WestJet. Volaris and Virgin Australia passengers check-in at Ternimal 2, and are bused to TBIT where their flights operate
Terminal 3 is exclusively used by Delta Air Lines. Avianca, Copa, and Interjet passengers check-in at Terminal 3 amd are bused to TBIT, where their flights operate
Terminal 4 is exclusively used by American Airlines. American Eagle flights are operated out of a small remote terminal, often referred to as the "Eagle's Nest," with bus service to and from Terminal 4.[28]
Terminal 5 is used by American Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue, Allegiant Air, Frontier, Spirit, and Sun Country.
Terminal 6 is used by Alaska Airlines (including its subsidiary Virgin America), Air Canada, Boutique Air, Great Lakes, Mokulele Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines, VivaAerobus, and XL Airways France.
Terminals 7 and 8 are exclusively used by United Airlines.
The Tom Bradley International Terminal (or TBIT, sometimes referred as Terminal B)[29] handles most foreign carriers and select American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines flights.

text: The following airlines operate at TBIT:

text:
Aeroflot
Air China
Air France
Air New Zealand
Air Tahiti Nui
Alitalia
All Nippon Airways
American Airlines (Select flights only)
Asiana Airlines
Austrian Airlines
Avianca (Passengers check-in at T3)
British Airways
Cathay Pacific
Copa Airlines (Passengers check-in at T3)
China Airlines
China Eastern
China Southern
Delta Air Lines (Select flights only)
El Al Israel Airlines
Emirates
Ethopian
Etihad Airways
EVA Air
Fiji Airways
Hainan Airlines
Hong Kong Airlines
Iberia
Interjet (Passengers check-in at T3)
Japan Airlines
KLM
Korean Air
LATAM
LOT Polish Airlines
Lufthansa
Norwegian Air Shuttle
Qantas
Qatar Airways
Philippine Airlines
Saudia
Scandinavian Airlines
Sichuan Airlines
Singapore Airlines
Southwest Airlines (International flights only, domestic flights/check-ins at T1)
Swiss International Air Lines
Turkish Airlines
United Airlines (Select flights only)
Virgin Australia (Passengers check-in at T2)
Volaris (Passengers check-in at T2)
WOW air
XiamenAir

text: Airlines and destinations[edit]

text: Passenger[edit]

text: LAX connects nonstop to 101 domestic and 85 international destinations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. American Airlines/American Eagle operate the most departures from the airport, followed by United Airlines/United Express and Southwest Airlines. American operates the largest network of routes out of LAX serving more than 70 destinations, followed closely by Delta (58) and United (57).

text:
Airlines
Destinations

Aer Lingus
Dublin[30]

Aeroflot
Moscow–Sheremetyevo

Aeromexico
Guadalajara, Mexico City

Aeroméxico Connect
León/Del Bajío,[31][32] Monterrey[33]

Air Canada
Calgary, Montréal–Trudeau, Toronto–Pearson, Vancouver

Air China
Beijing–Capital, Shenzhen[34]

Air France
Papeete, Paris–Charles de Gaulle

Air New Zealand
Auckland, London–Heathrow, Rarotonga

Air Tahiti Nui
Papeete, Paris–Charles de Gaulle

Alaska Airlines
Anchorage, Baltimore,[35] Guadalajara, Havana (ends January 22, 2018),[36] Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Liberia (CR), Loreto, Manzanillo, Mazatlán, Mexico City,[37] Portland (OR), Puerto Vallarta, Salt Lake City, San José del Cabo, San José de Costa Rica, Seattle/Tacoma, Washington–National

Alaska Airlines
operated by Horizon Air
Mammoth Lakes, Medford, San José (CA), Santa Rosa
Seasonal: Sun Valley

Alaska Airlines
operated by SkyWest Airlines
Mexico City, San Jose (CA)

Alitalia
Rome–Fiumicino[38]

All Nippon Airways
Tokyo–Haneda, Tokyo–Narita

Allegiant Air
Albuquerque, Bellingham, Boise, Cincinnati, Eugene, Grand Junction, McAllen,[39] Medford, Memphis, Ogden,[40] Provo, Reno/Tahoe, Springfield (MO), Tulsa
Seasonal: Billings, Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Des Moines, Fargo, Fayetteville/Bentonville, Great Falls, Idaho Falls, Kalispell, Little Rock, Missoula, Montrose, Oklahoma City, Sioux Falls, Tri-Cities (WA), Wichita

American Airlines
Atlanta, Austin, Beijing–Capital,[41] Belize City, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago–O'Hare, Columbus–Glenn, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Hartford, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Kahului, Kailua–Kona, Las Vegas, Lihue, London–Heathrow, Mexico City, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, New York–JFK, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Puerto Vallarta, Raleigh/Durham, St. Louis, San José del Cabo, São Paulo–Guarulhos, Seattle/Tacoma, Shanghai–Pudong, Sydney, Tokyo–Haneda, Tokyo–Narita, Toronto–Pearson, Vancouver, Washington–Dulles, Washington–National
Seasonal: Anchorage, Auckland,[42] Eagle/Vail, Jackson Hole, Sacramento, Montego Bay
Charter: Havana

American Eagle
Albuquerque, Denver, El Paso, Eugene, Fayetteville/Bentonville, Fresno, Houston–Intercontinental, Mazatlán, Medford,[43] Montrose, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Portland (OR), Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San José (CA), Seattle/Tacoma, Tucson, Vancouver
Seasonal: Aspen, Austin, Bozeman (begins June 9, 2018),[44] Durango (CO), Flagstaff (begins May 5, 2018)[45], Grand Junction,[46] Jackson Hole, Redmond/Bend

Asiana Airlines
Seoul–Incheon

Austrian Airlines
Seasonal: Vienna

Avianca
Bogotá

Avianca Costa Rica
Guatemala City, San José de Costa Rica, San Salvador

Avianca El Salvador
San Salvador

Boutique Air
Inyokern,[47] Merced

British Airways
London–Heathrow

Cathay Pacific
Hong Kong

China Airlines
Taipei–Taoyuan

China Eastern Airlines
Nanjing, Shanghai–Pudong

China Southern Airlines
Guangzhou

Copa Airlines
Panama City

Delta Air Lines
Amsterdam (begins June 17, 2018),[48] Atlanta, Austin, Belize City, Boston, Cancún, Cincinnati, Columbus–Glenn, Dallas/Fort Worth,[49] Denver, Detroit, Guatemala City, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Kahului, Kailua–Kona, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Lihue, Memphis, Mexico City,[50] Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, New Orleans, New York–JFK, Oakland, Orlando, Paris–Charles de Gaulle (begins June 16, 2018),[48] Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Portland (OR), Puerto Vallarta, Raleigh/Durham, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San José (CA), San José del Cabo, San José de Costa Rica, San Salvador, Seattle/Tacoma, Shanghai–Pudong, Sydney, Tampa, Tokyo–Haneda, Washington–National
Seasonal: Bozeman, Liberia (CR), Managua, Miami, Vancouver

Delta Connection
Albuquerque,[51] Austin, Boise, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Oakland, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Portland (OR), Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco (begins January 4, 2018)[52], San José (CA), Spokane, Tucson, Vancouver
Seasonal: Aspen, Bozeman, Jackson Hole, Kalispell, Missoula, Sun Valley

Delta Shuttle
San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma (both end January 3, 2018)[52]

El Al
Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion

Emirates
Dubai–International

Ethiopian Airlines
Addis Ababa, Dublin

Etihad Airways
Abu Dhabi

EVA Air
Taipei–Taoyuan

Fiji Airways
Nadi

Frontier Airlines
Atlanta, Chicago–O'Hare, Denver, Orlando
Seasonal: Cincinnati, Colorado Springs[53]

Great Lakes Airlines
Prescott

Hainan Airlines
Changsha, Chengdu,[54] Chongqing[54]

Hawaiian Airlines
Honolulu, Kahului, Lihue
Seasonal: Kailua–Kona

Hong Kong Airlines
Hong Kong[55]

Iberia
Seasonal: Madrid

Interjet
Cancún, Guadalajara, León/Del Bajío, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, San José del Cabo[56]

Japan Airlines
Osaka–Kansai, Tokyo–Narita

JetBlue Airways
Boston, Buffalo, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, New York–JFK

KLM
Amsterdam

Korean Air
Seoul–Incheon

LATAM Chile
Lima, Santiago de Chile

LATAM Perú
Lima

LEVEL
operated by Iberia
Seasonal: Barcelona[57]

LOT Polish Airlines
Warsaw–Chopin[58]

Lufthansa
Frankfurt, Munich

Mokulele Airlines
El Centro[59]

Norwegian Air Shuttle
operated by Norwegian Long Haul
Barcelona,[60] Copenhagen, London–Gatwick, Madrid (begins July 15, 2018),[61] Milan–Malpensa (begins July 16, 2018),[61] Oslo–Gardermoen, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Rome–Fiumicino,[62] Stockholm–Arlanda

Philippine Airlines
Manila

Qantas[a]
Brisbane, Melbourne–Tullamarine, Sydney

Qatar Airways
Doha

Saudia
Jeddah, Riyadh

Scandinavian Airlines
Stockholm–Arlanda

Sichuan Airlines
Chengdu, Hangzhou, Jinan[63]

Singapore Airlines
Seoul–Incheon,[64] Singapore, Tokyo–Narita

Southwest Airlines
Albuquerque, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Cancún,[65] Chicago–Midway, Dallas–Love, Denver, El Paso, Houston–Hobby, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, Oakland, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Pittsburgh, Portland (OR), Puerto Vallarta,[65] Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco, San José (CA), San José del Cabo,[65] Tucson
Seasonal: Omaha, Orange County (CA)

Spirit Airlines
Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Houston–Intercontinental, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa (begins April 18, 2018)[66]

Sun Country Airlines
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Seasonal: Honolulu (begins May 19, 2018)[67]

Swiss International Air Lines
operated by Swiss Global Air Lines
Zürich

Thomas Cook Airlines
Seasonal: Manchester (UK)

Turkish Airlines
Istanbul–Atatürk

United Airlines
Boston, Cancún, Chicago–O'Hare, Cleveland, Denver, Hilo, Honolulu, Houston–Intercontinental, Kahului, Kailua–Kona, Las Vegas, Lihue, London–Heathrow, Melbourne, Mexico City, Newark, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco, Shanghai–Pudong, Singapore,[68][69] Sydney, Tokyo–Narita, Washington–Dulles
Seasonal: Austin, Baltimore, Puerto Vallarta, San José del Cabo, Seattle/Tacoma

United Express
Albuquerque, Austin, Boise, Colorado Springs, Dallas/Fort Worth, Fresno, Las Vegas, León/Del Bajío, Medford (begins April 9, 2018),[70] Monterey, Oklahoma City (ends January 21, 2018), Palm Springs, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Redmond (begins April 9, 2018),[70] Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Seattle/Tacoma, St. George (UT), Tucson, Vancouver
Seasonal: Aspen, Bozeman, Hayden/Steamboat Springs, Jackson Hole, Kalispell (begins June 7, 2018),[70] Missoula (begins June 7, 2018),[70] Montrose

Virgin America
Boston, Cancún, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas–Love, Fort Lauderdale, Honolulu, Kahului, Las Vegas, New York–JFK, Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland (OR), San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma, Washington–Dulles

Virgin Atlantic
London–Heathrow

Virgin Australia
Brisbane, Melbourne–Tullamarine, Sydney

VivaAerobus
Guadalajara[71]

Volaris
Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Durango, Guadalajara, León/Del Bajío, Mexico City, Morelia, Oaxaca, Queretaro, Uruapan, Zacatecas
Seasonal: Puerto Vallarta[72]

Volaris Costa Rica
Guatemala City (begins March 16, 2018),[73] San Salvador (begins March 16, 2018),[73] San José de Costa Rica (begins March 16, 2018)[73]

WestJet
Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto–Pearson, Vancouver

WOW air
Reykjavík–Keflavík

XiamenAir
Qingdao, [74] Xiamen

XL Airways France
Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle

text: Notes:

text: Jump up ^ Qantas also flies to/from New York–JFK, but only for international, connecting traffic. Due to US federal law, foreign airlines may not transport revenue passengers solely between US destinations.

tag: ol

text: Cargo[edit]

text:
Airlines
Destinations
Refs

AeroUnion
Guadalajara, León/El Bajío, Mexico City, Monterrey
[75]

AirBridgeCargo Airlines
Amsterdam, Anchorage, Hong Kong, Shanghai–Pudong
[76]

Air China Cargo
Beijing–Capital, Quito, Shanghai–Pudong
[77][78]

Aloha Air Cargo
Honolulu
[79]

Asiana Cargo
Anchorage, San Francisco, Seoul–Incheon
[80]

Cargolux
Anchorage, Calgary, Glasgow–Prestwick, Luxembourg, Mexico City, Milan–Malpensa, Seattle/Tacoma
[81][82]

Cathay Pacific Cargo
Anchorage, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Portland (OR)[83]
[84]

Centurion Air Cargo
Guadalajara, Mexico City, Miami, Tokyo–Narita
[85]

China Airlines Cargo
Anchorage, Osaka, San Francisco, Taipei–Taoyuan
[86][87][88]

China Cargo Airlines
Shanghai–Pudong
[89]

China Southern Cargo
Guangzhou, Hefei, Shanghai–Pudong, Tianjin, Vancouver, Zhengzhou
[90][91][92]

DHL Aviation
Anchorage, Calgary, Cincinnati, Guadalajara, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Huatulco, Leipzig/Halle, Mexico City, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Portland (OR), San Francisco, San Jose (CA), San José (CR), Seattle/Tacoma, Seoul–Incheon, Tokyo–Narita, Tucson
[79][93][94][95][96][97]

Emirates SkyCargo
Copenhagen, Dubai–Al Maktoum, Mexico City, Zaragoza
[98][99]

EVA Air Cargo
Anchorage, Taipei–Taoyuan
[100]

FedEx Express
Boston, Burbank, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Edmonton, Fort Worth/Alliance, Fresno, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, Newark, Oakland, Ontario, Orange County, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Portland (OR), San Diego, Seattle/Tacoma, Sydney Tulsa

Korean Air Cargo
Anchorage, San Francisco, Seoul–Incheon, Tokyo–Narita
[101][102]

Lufthansa Cargo
Frankfurt, Manchester
[103]

MasAir
Campinas–Viracopos, Guadalajara, Mérida, Mexico City, Quito
[104]

National Airlines (N8)
Anchorage, Nagoya–Centrair, Osaka–Kansai, Shanghai–Pudong, Tokyo–Narita
[105][not in citation given]

Nippon Cargo Airlines
San Francisco, Tokyo–Narita
[106][107]

Qantas Freight
Auckland, Chongqing, Honolulu, Melbourne, Sydney
[108]

Qatar Airways Cargo
Doha, Luxembourg, Mexico City
[109][110][111][112]

Singapore Airlines Cargo
Amsterdam, Anchorage, Brussels, Hong Kong, Sharjah
[113]

Sky Lease Cargo
Miami, Tokyo–Narita
[114]

UPS Airlines
Dallas/Fort Worth, Louisville, Ontario

text: Traffic and statistics[edit]

text: LAX handles more "origin and destination" (not connecting) passengers than any other airport in the world.[115][116]

text: The airport handled 28,861,477 enplanements, the total number of passengers boarding an aircraft, in 2008. This makes LAX the third busiest airport in the United States in terms of enplanements.[117]

text: It is the world's fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic[118] and fifteenth-busiest by cargo traffic,[119] serving over 70.6 million passengers and 2 million tons of freight and mail in 2014. It is the busiest airport in the state of California, and the second-busiest airport by passenger boardings in the United States, based on final 2013 statistics.[120]

text: In terms of international passengers, as of 2012, LAX is the third-busiest in the United States (behind JFK in New York City and MIA in Miami)[121] and, as of 2006, 26th worldwide.[122]

text: The number of aircraft operations (landings and takeoffs) has steadily increased to 636,706 in 2014, up from 614,917 in 2013, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.[123] The Airports Council International places LAX at third most aircraft movements in the world, as of 2013.[124]

text:
Traffic by calendar year

Enplaned and Deplaned Passengers
Aircraft movements
Freight
(tons)
Mail
(tons)

1994
51,050,275
689,888
1,516,567
186,878

1995
53,909,223
732,639
1,567,248
193,747

1996
57,974,559
763,866
1,696,663
194,091

1997
60,142,588
781,492
1,852,487
212,410

1998
61,215,712
773,569
1,787,400
264,473

1999
64,279,571
779,150
1,884,526
253,695

2000
67,303,182
783,433
2,002,614
246,538

2001
61,606,204
738,433
1,779,065
162,629

2002
56,223,843
645,424
1,869,932
92,422

2003
54,982,838
622,378
1,924,883
97,193

2004
60,704,568
655,097
2,022,911
92,402

2005
61,489,398
650,629
2,048,817
88,371

2006
61,041,066
656,842
2,022,687
80,395

2007
62,438,583
680,954
2,010,820
66,707

2008
59,815,646
622,506
1,723,038
73,505

2009
56,520,843
544,833
1,599,782
64,073

2010
59,069,409
575,835
1,852,791
74,034

2011
61,862,052
603,912
1,789,204
80,442

2012
63,688,121
605,480
1,867,155
88,438

2013
66,667,619
614,917
1,848,764
77,286

2014
70,662,212
636,706
1,921,302
79,850

2015
74,936,256
655,564
2,047,197
94,299

2016
80,921,527
697,138
2,105,941
99,394

Source: Los Angeles World Airports[125]

text: Top domestic destinations[edit]

text:
Busiest domestic routes to and from LAX
(October 2016 - September 2017)[126]

Rank
Airport
Passengers
Carriers

1
San Francisco, California
1,732,600
American, Delta, Southwest, United, Virgin America

2
New York–JFK, New York
1,654,370
American, Delta, JetBlue, Virgin America

3
Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois
1,488,840
American, Frontier, Spirit, United, Virgin America

4
Seattle/Tacoma, Washington
1,452,720
Alaska, American, Delta, Spirit, United, Virgin America

5
Las Vegas, Nevada
1,359,730
American, Delta, Southwest, Spirit, United, Virgin America

6
Denver, Colorado
1,237,310
American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit, United

7
Atlanta, Georgia
1,098,330
American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit

8
Honolulu, Hawaii
1,081,810
American, Delta, Hawaiian, United, Virgin America

9
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
1,042,360
American, Delta, Spirit, United

10
Newark, New Jersey
831,280
United, Virgin America

text: Top international destinations[edit]

text:
Busiest international routes from LAX (2016)[127]

Rank
Airport
Passengers
Change 2015/2016
Carriers

1
 London–Heathrow
1,520,350
00.2%
Air New Zealand, American Airlines, British Airways, United, Virgin Atlantic

2
 Mexico City
1,037,600
043.0%
Aeroméxico, Alaska, American, Interjet, United, Volaris

3
 Seoul–Incheon
1,024,826
05.4%
Asiana, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines

4
 Taipei–Taoyuan
1,016,686
07.4%
China Airlines, EVA Air

5
 Tokyo–Narita
983,933
010.7%
ANA, American, Delta, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, United

6
 Sydney
936,562
019.3%
American, Delta, Qantas, United, Virgin Australia

7
 Guadalajara
923,918
023.8%
Aeroméxico, Alaska, American, Delta, Interjet, Volaris

8
 Vancouver
911,592
01.7%
Air Canada, American, Delta, United, WestJet

9
 Shanghai–Pudong
799,300
055.9%
American, China Eastern, Delta, United

10
 Hong Kong
710,462
028.4%
American, Cathay Pacific

11
 Toronto–Pearson
702,674
013.4%
Air Canada, American, WestJet

12
 Paris–Charles de Gaulle
686,407
029.5%
Air France, Air Tahiti Nui, Norwegian, XL Airways France

13
 Dubai–International
508,374
030.4%
Emirates

14
 Beijing–Capital
501,977
08.0%
Air China

15
 Auckland
471,717
00.4%
Air New Zealand, American

16
 Melbourne
469,739
05.4%
Qantas, United

17
 Guangzhou
434,434
0106.4%
China Southern

18
 Los Cabos
423,007
06.9%
Alaska, American, United

19
 Tokyo–Haneda
419,460
060.4%
ANA, American, Delta

20
 San Salvador
412,580
02.1%
Avianca Costa Rica, Avianca El Salvador, Delta

text: Airline market share[edit]

text:
Largest Airlines at LAX (October 2016 – September 2017)[126]

Rank
Airline
Passengers
Share

1
American Airlines
10,906,000
18.93%

2
Southwest Airlines
9,490,000
16.47%

2
Delta Air Lines
9,423,000
16.35%

4
United Airlines
8,555,000
14.84%

5
SkyWest Airlines
3,195,000
5.54%

text: Ground transportation[edit]

text: Transportation between terminals[edit]

text: Shuttles operate to and from the terminals, providing frequent service for connecting passengers. However, connecting passengers who use these shuttles must leave and then later reenter security.

text: Airside connectors[edit]

text: Underground tunnels connect between terminals 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and an above-ground connector between TBIT and terminal 4 opened in February 2016.[128]

text: Freeways and roads[edit]

text: LAX's terminals are immediately west of the interchange between Century Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard (State Route 1). The 405 Freeway can be reached to the east via Century Boulevard, and the 105 Freeway can be reached to the south via Sepulveda Boulevard.

text: Bus[edit]

text: The closest bus stops to the terminals are the pair of opposites on Sepulveda Boulevard and Century Boulevard, served by Metro 117, Torrance 8, Metro 232, Commuter Express 574 and Metro 40 to Los Angeles Union Station (owl service only).

text: In addition, out of a number of bus systems, many routes (local, rapid and express) of the LACMTA Metro 232 to Long Beach, Line 8 of Torrance Transit, Line 109 of Beach Cities Transit, the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus system's Line 3 and Rapid 3 via Lincoln Boulevard to Santa Monica and the Culver CityBus's Line 6 and Rapid 6 via Sepulveda Blvd to Culver City and UCLA, LADOT Commuter Express 438 to Downtown LA (Monday-Friday Rush hours AM), all make stops at the LAX Transit Center in Parking Lot C. on 96th St., where shuttle bus "C" offers free connections to and from every LAX terminal, and at the Green Line, where shuttle bus "G" connects to and from the terminals.

text: The Taiwanese airline China Airlines operates a bus service from LAX to Monterey Park and Rowland Heights. This service is only available for China Airlines customers.[129]

text: FlyAway Bus[edit]

text: The FlyAway Bus is a nonstop motorcoach/shuttle service run by the LAWA, which provides scheduled service between LAX and Downtown Los Angeles (Union Station), the San Fernando Valley (Van Nuys), West Los Angeles (Westwood), Hollywood, Long Beach, California, and Santa Monica was discontinued in 2015. The Irvine FlyAway was discontinued on August 31, 2012. The shuttle service stops at every LAX terminal. The service hours vary based on the line. All lines use the regional system of High Occupancy Vehicle lanes to expedite their trips. The Los Angeles Union Station service and a late-night branch of Metro Local route 40 are the only direct transport links between the airport and Downtown Los Angeles.

text: Metro Rail[edit]

text: Shuttle bus "G" offers a free connection to and from the Aviation/LAX station on the Los Angeles Metro Rail Green Line. The line was originally intended to be a people mover to connect directly to the airport terminals, but budgetary restraints and opposition from local taxi and parking lot owners impeded its progress and won.

text: Airport Metro Connector[edit]

text:
[hide]
[

v
t
e

]

LAX Train (Future)

Legend

Consolidated Rental Car Facility

Aviation/96th Street

Intermodal Transportation Facility East

APM Maintenance and Storage Facility

Intermodal Transportation Facility West

East CTA

(Terminals 1, 7, 8)

Center CTA

(Terminals 2, 5, 6)

West CTA

(Terminals 3, 4, Int'l)

text: In June 2014, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved a $200 million Metro Rail infill station called Aviation/96th Street on the under construction Crenshaw/LAX Line to connect to an automated people mover (APM) system called the Airport Metro Connector, connecting terminals 1–8 to the light rail systems.[130] The people mover will have six stations: three serving the central terminal area, one serving a ground transportation hub and surrounding hotels, one serving the infill light rail station, and one serving a rental car hub, decreasing the need for shuttle bus services. Construction, estimated to cost $1.5 billion, is planned to start in early 2018 and to be completed by early 2023. The project will be completed in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics. [131][132] Currently, shuttle bus "G" runs every 10–15 minutes (synched with the train schedule) from 5 am – 1:30 am.[133]

text: Taxis and private shuttles[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Taxicab services are operated by nine city-authorized taxi companies and regulated by Authorized Taxicab Supervision Inc. (ATS). ATS maintains a taxicab holding lot under the 96th Street Bridge where, at peak periods, hundreds of cabs queue up to wait their turn to pull into the central terminal area to pick up passengers. A number of private shuttle companies also offer limousine and bus services to LAX Airport.

text: Uber and Lyft both provide ride services to and from LAX. All dropoffs and pickups happen on the upper departures level. Pickups (arriving passengers) only happen at one of the designated "rideshare signs." There are six rideshare sign locations around the airport, labeled A thru F. Lyft and Uber drivers are not allowed on the lower arrivals area, except when picking up a disabled passenger who requires ADA access.

text: Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles[edit]

text: The airport also functioned as a joint civil-military facility, providing a base for the United States Coast Guard and its Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles facility, operating four HH-65 Dolphin helicopters, which covers Coast Guard operations in various Southern California locations, including Catalina Island. Missions include search and rescue (SAR), law enforcement, aids to navigation support (such as operating lighthouses) and various military operations. In addition, Coast Guard helicopters assigned to the air station deploy to Coast Guard cutters.

text: The air station relocated by May 18, 2016 from LAX to accommodate the planned improvements for LAX's midfield, including the Midfield Satellite Concourse North (MSC North) terminal. The air station moved to U.S. Navy's Naval Air Station Point Mugu, part of the Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) in Point Mugu, California.[134]

text: Flight Path Learning Center & Museum[edit]

text: The Flight Path Learning Center is a museum located at 6661 Imperial Highway and was formerly known as the "West Imperial Terminal". This building used to house some charter flights (e.g. Condor Airlines, Martinair Holland, World Airways) and regular scheduled flights by MGM Grand Air. It sat empty for 10 years until it was re-opened as a learning center for LAX.

text: The center contains information on the history of aviation, several pictures of the airport, as well as aircraft scale models, flight attendant uniforms, and general airline memorabilia such as playing cards, china, magazines, signs, even a TWA gate information sign. The museum also offers school tours and a guest speaker program.

text: The museum's library contains an extensive collection of rare items such as aircraft manufacturer company newsletters/magazines, technical manuals for both military and civilian aircraft, industry magazines dating back to World War II and before, historic photographs and other invaluable references on aircraft operation and manufacturing.[135]

text: The museum has on display "The Spirit of Seventy-Six," which is a DC-3 (DC-3-262, Serial No. 3269). After being in commercial airline service, the plane served as a corporate aircraft for Union Oil Company for 32 years. The plane was built in the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Santa Monica in January 1941, which was a major producer of both commercial and military aircraft.[136]

text: The museum claims to be "the only aviation museum and research center situated at a major airport and the only facility with a primary emphasis on contributions of civil aviation to the history and development of Southern California".[137] There are other museums at major airports, however, including the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum adjacent to Washington Dulles Airport, the Royal Thai Air Force Museum at Don Mueang Airport, the Suomen ilmailumuseo (Finnish Aviation Museum) at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field, the Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium at Tulsa International Airport and others.

text: Other facilities[edit]

text: The airport has the administrative offices of Los Angeles World Airports.[138]

text: Continental Airlines once had its corporate headquarters on the airport property. At a 1962 press conference in the office of Mayor of Los Angeles Sam Yorty, Continental Airlines announced that it planned to move its headquarters to Los Angeles in July 1963.[139] In 1963 Continental Airlines headquarters moved to a two-story, $2.3 million building on the grounds of the airport.[140][141] The July 2009 Continental Magazine issue stated that the move "underlined Continental Airlines western and Pacific orientation".[142] On July 1, 1983 the airline's headquarters were relocated to the America Tower in the Neartown area of Houston.[143]

text: In addition to Continental Airlines, Western Airlines and Flying Tiger Line also had their headquarters at LAX.[144][145]

text: Accidents and incidents[edit]

text: During its history there have been numerous incidents, but only the most notable are summarized below:[146]

text: On January 23, 1939, the sole prototype Douglas 7B twin-engine attack bomber, designed and built as a company project, suffered loss of vertical fin and rudder during demonstration flight over Mines Field, flat spun into the parking lot of North American Aviation, burned. Another source states that the test pilot, in an attempt to impress the Gallic passenger, attempted a snap roll at low altitude with one engine feathered, resulting in the fatal spin.[147] Douglas test pilot Johnny Cable bailed out at 300 feet, chute unfurled but did not have time to deploy, killed on impact, flight engineer John Parks rode the airframe in and died, but 33-year-old French Air Force Capt. Paul Chemidlin, riding in aft fuselage near top turret, survived with broken leg, severe back injuries, slight concussion. Presence of Chemidlin, a representative of foreign purchasing mission, caused a furor in Congress by isolationists over neutrality and export laws. Type was developed as Douglas DB-7.[148]

text:
On June 1, 1940, the first Douglas R3D-1 for the U.S. Navy, BuNo 1901, crashed at Mines Field, before delivery. The Navy later acquired the privately owned DC-5 prototype, from William E. Boeing as a replacement.[149]
On November 20, 1940, the prototype NA-73X Mustang, NX19998,[150] first flown October 26, 1940, by test pilot Vance Breese, crashed this date.[151] According to P-51 designer Edgar Schmued, the NA-73 was lost because test pilot Paul Balfour refused, before a high-speed test run, to go through the takeoff and flight test procedure with Schmued while the aircraft was on the ground, claiming "one airplane was like another". After making two high speed passes over Mines Field, he forgot to put the fuel valve on "reserve" and during third pass ran out of fuel. Emergency landing in a freshly plowed field caused wheels to dig in, aircraft flipped over, airframe was not rebuilt, the second aircraft being used for subsequent testing.[152]
On October 26, 1944, WASP pilot Gertrude Tompkins Silver of the 601st Ferrying Squadron, 5th Ferrying Group, Love Field, Dallas, Texas, departed Los Angeles Airport, in North American P-51D Mustang, 44-15669,[153] at 1600 hrs PWT, headed for the East Coast. She took off into the wind, into an offshore fog bank, and was expected that night at Palm Springs. She never arrived. Due to a paperwork foul-up, a search did not get under way for several days, and while the eventual search of land and sea was massive, it failed to find a trace of Silver or her plane. She is the only missing WASP pilot. She had married Sgt. Henry Silver one month before her disappearance.[154]

text:
On January 13, 1969, a Scandinavian Airlines System Douglas DC-8-62, Flight 933, crashed into Santa Monica Bay, approximately 6 nautical miles (11 km) west of LAX at 7:21 pm, local time. The aircraft was operating as flight SK-933, nearing the completion of a flight from Seattle. Of nine crewmembers, three lost their lives to drowning, while 12 of the 36 passengers also drowned.
On January 18, 1969, United Airlines Flight 266 a Boeing 727-200 bearing the registration number N7434U, crashed into Santa Monica Bay approximately 11.3 miles (18.2 km) west of LAX at 6:21 pm local time. The aircraft was destroyed, resulting in the loss of all 32 passengers and six crew members aboard.

text:
On the evening of June 6, 1971, Hughes Airwest Flight 706, a Douglas DC-9 jetliner that had departed LAX on a flight to Salt Lake City, Utah, was struck nine minutes after takeoff by a U.S. Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter jet over the San Gabriel Mountains. The midair collision killed all 44 passengers and five crew members aboard the DC-9 airliner and one of two crewmen aboard the military jet.
On August 6, 1974, a bomb exploded near the Pan Am ticketing area at Terminal 2; three people were killed and 35 were injured.[155]
On March 1, 1978, two tires burst in succession on a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 on Continental Airlines Flight 603 during its takeoff roll at LAX and the plane, bound for Honolulu, veered off the runway. A third tire burst and the DC-10's left landing gear collapsed, causing a fuel tank to rupture. Following the aborted takeoff, spilled fuel ignited and enveloped the center portion of the aircraft in flames. During the ensuing emergency evacuation, a husband and wife died when they exited the passenger cabin onto the wing and dropped down directly into the flames. Two additional passengers died of their injuries approximately three months after the accident; 74 others aboard the plane were injured, as were 11 firemen battling the fire.
On the evening of March 10, 1979, Swift Aire Flight 235, a twin-engine Aerospatiale Nord 262A-33 turboprop en route to Santa Maria, was forced to ditch in Santa Monica Bay after experiencing engine problems upon takeoff from LAX. The pilot, co-pilot and a female passenger drowned when they were unable to exit the aircraft after the ditching. The female flight attendant and the three remaining passengers—two men and a pregnant woman—survived and were rescued by several pleasure boats and other watercraft in the vicinity.

text: On August 31, 1986, Aeroméxico Flight 498, a DC-9 en route from Mexico City, Mexico to Los Angeles, began its descent into LAX when a Piper Cherokee collided with the DC-9's left horizontal stabilizer over Cerritos, California, causing the DC-9 to crash into a residential neighborhood. All 67 people on the two aircraft were killed, in addition to 15 people on the ground. 5 homes were destroyed and an additional 7 were damaged by the crash and resulting fire. The Piper went down in a nearby schoolyard and caused no further injuries on the ground. As a result of this incident, the FAA required all commercial aircraft to be equipped with Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS).

text: On February 1, 1991, USAir Flight 1493 (arriving from Columbus, Ohio), a Boeing 737-300, landing on runway 24L at LAX, collided on touchdown with a SkyWest Airlines Fairchild Metroliner, Flight 5569 departing to Palmdale, California. The Skywest plane was given clearance to wait on the runway for takeoff. The same controller then gave the USAir plane clearance to land on the same runway, forgetting that the SkyWest plane was there. The collision killed all 12 occupants of the SkyWest plane and 23 people aboard the USAir 737.[156][157]

text:
Al-Qaeda attempted to bomb LAX on New Year's Eve 1999/2000. The bomber, Algerian Ahmed Ressam, was captured in Port Angeles, Washington, the U.S. port of entry, with a cache of explosives that could have produced a blast 40 times greater than that of a car bomb hidden in the trunk of the rented car in which he had traveled from Canada.[158][159] He had planned to leave one or two suitcases filled with explosives in an LAX passenger waiting area.[160][161] He was initially sentenced to 22 years in prison, but in February 2010 an appellate court ordered that his sentence be extended.[162]
On January 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 jetliner flying from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to San Francisco and Seattle, requested an emergency landing at LAX after experiencing problems with its tail-mounted horizontal stabilizer. Before the plane could divert to Los Angeles, it suddenly plummeted into the Pacific Ocean approximately 2.7 miles (4.3 km) north of Anacapa Island off the California coast, killing all 88 people aboard.[163]
In the 2002 Los Angeles International Airport shooting of July 4, 2002, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet killed two Israelis at the ticket counter of El Al Airlines at LAX. Although the gunman was not linked to any terrorist group, the man was upset at U.S. support for Israel, and therefore was motivated by political disagreement. This led the FBI to classify this shooting as a terrorist act,[164] one of the few on U.S. soil since the September 11 attacks.
On September 21, 2005, JetBlue Flight 292, an Airbus A320 discovered a problem with its landing gear as it took off from Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California. It flew in circles for three hours to burn off fuel, then landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport on runway 25L, balancing on its back wheels as it rolled down the center of the runway. Passengers were able to watch their own coverage live from the satellite broadcast on JetBlue in-flight TV seat displays of their plane as it made an emergency landing with the front landing gear visibly becoming damaged. Because JetBlue did not serve LAX at the time, the aircraft was evaluated and repaired at a Continental Airlines hangar.[165][166]
On July 29, 2006, after America West Express Flight 6008, a Canadair Regional Jet operated by Mesa Airlines from Phoenix, Arizona, landed on runway 25L, controllers instructed the pilot to leave the runway on a taxiway known as "Mike" and stop short of runway 25R. Even though the pilot read back the instructions correctly, he accidentally taxied onto 25R and into the path of a departing SkyWest Airlines Embraer EMB-120 operating United Express Flight 6037 to Monterey, California. They cleared each other by 50 feet (15 m) and nobody was hurt.[167]
On August 16, 2007, a runway incursion occurred between WestJet Flight 900 and Northwest Airlines Flight 180 on runways 24R and 24L, respectively, with the aircraft coming within 37 feet (11 m) of each other. The planes were carrying a combined total of 296 people, none of whom were injured. The NTSB concluded that the incursion was the result of controller error.[168] In September 2007, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey stressed the need for LAX to increase lateral separation between its pair of north runways in order to preserve the safety and efficiency of the airport.[169]

text:
On October 13 and 14, 2013, two incidents of dry ice bomb explosions occurred at the airport. The first dry ice bomb exploded at 7:00 p.m. in an employee restroom in Terminal 2, injuring nobody. Terminal 2 was briefly shut down as a result. On the next day at 8:30 p.m., a dry ice bomb exploded on the ramp area near the Tom Bradley International Terminal, injuring nobody. Two other plastic bottles containing dry ice were found at the scene during the second explosion. On October 15, a 28-year-old airport employee was arrested in connection with the explosions and was booked on charges of possession of an explosive or destructive device near an aircraft. He is currently held on a $1 million bail.[170][171][172] On October 18, a 41-year-old airport employee was arrested in connection with the second explosion, and was booked on suspicion of possessing a destructive device near an aircraft.[173] Authorities believe that the incidents are not linked to terrorism.[170]
In the 2013 Los Angeles International Airport shooting of November 1, 2013, at around 9:31 a.m. PDT, a lone gunman entered Terminal 3 and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle, killing a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer and wounding three other people. The gunman was later apprehended and taken into custody. Until the situation was clarified and under control, a few terminals at the airport were evacuated, all inbound flights were diverted and all outbound flights were grounded until the airport began returning to normal operation at around 2:30 p.m.[174][175]
On August 28, 2016, there was a false report of shots fired throughout the airport, causing a temporary lock down and about 3 hours of flight delays.[176]
On May 20, 2017, Aeroméxico Flight 642, a Boeing 737-800, collided with a utility truck on a taxiway near Runway 25R, injuring 8 people, two of them seriously.[177]

text: Planned modernization[edit]

text: LAWA currently has several plans to modernize LAX. These include terminal and runway improvements, which will enhance the passenger experience, reduce overcrowding, and provide airport access to the latest class of very large passenger aircraft.

text: These improvements include:[178]

text:
New crossfield taxiway
New large aircraft gates at Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT)
TBIT core improvements
New Midfield Satellite Concourse
Replacement of Central Utility Plant
Terminal and Runway Improvements

text: LAWA is also planning to build and operate an automated people mover. This small train will include three stations in the central terminal area and three outside east of the terminals at a new intermodal transportation facility, connecting passengers between the central terminal area and the Metro Green Line, the future Metro Crenshaw Line, and regional and local bus lines and a consolidated car rental facility.[179][180]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: Numerous films and television shows have been set or filmed partially at LAX, at least partly due to the airport's proximity to Hollywood studios. Film shoots at the Los Angeles airports, including LAX, produced $590 million for the Los Angeles region from 2002 to 2005.[181]