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I was also a little surprised, but I wouldn't say that LAX is "pretty small". It's definitely a large, major airport just not nearly as big as some. Others have mentioned aircraft size and I agree with that, but when compared to Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Denver you also have to consider that they get considerably more transfers than LAX which is much more of a destination airport.
In 2012, LAX was the sixth busiest airport in the world with 63,688,121 passengers, an increase of 3% from 2011. [4][5] The airport holds the claim for "the world's busiest origin and destination (O & D) airport" in 2011, meaning it had the most non-connecting passengers. [6][not in citation given] It is also the only airport to rank among the top five U.S. airports for both passenger and cargo traffic
Everyone always says how big LAX is when its actually pretty small. I was expecting it to at least be in the top 5 considering both cities are points of entry into the US.
Gates is not equal to number of passengers. Also good to keep in mind the SF Bay area has three international airports, so not everything is concentrated on just one.
The thing that has always struck me about LAX is its small footprint relative to its volume. People love to complain about it, but I'm surprised it functions as well as it does.
Yeah, it does really well considering how many people are flying in and out. It's peers would be airports like Kennedy or Newark and I think that it works better than them. Maybe O'Hare, but I've never flown out of O'Hare as a destination, only changed planes.
I've flown through Dallas many times, but the first time that it was a destination my mind was blown! I couldn't believe how large it was in terms of acreage. It has to be maybe 5 miles from the entrance until you get to the terminals. It might be 20 times larger in area than LAX. At least the non-restricted areas.
Yeah, it does really well considering how many people are flying in and out. It's peers would be airports like Kennedy or Newark and I think that it works better than them. Maybe O'Hare, but I've never flown out of O'Hare as a destination, only changed planes.
I've flown through Dallas many times, but the first time that it was a destination my mind was blown! I couldn't believe how large it was in terms of acreage. It has to be maybe 5 miles from the entrance until you get to the terminals. It might be 20 times larger in area than LAX. At least the non-restricted areas.
LAX is one of the most sensibly laid out airports I've ever travelled through. It's 7 (or 8?) separate terminals, none of which are really all that big, but they are sufficient enough to spread load the flow through the airport. That's from the dropoff/arrival lanes outside the terminal to the runways and gates to the corridors inside the terminals. I don't say good things about L.A. very often, but the airport really is a good design.
I've been to all except PHX. I've O&D'd the rest except DFW and MSP.
From my superficial impression I've always thought ATL, ORD, JFK, DFW and LAX stood out as the massive ones in size. Perhaps LAX gives that impression because of its 9 terminals!
Smallest commercial airport I've flown in/out of is Gainesville, FL (GNV). Three gates if I remember correctly.
Atlanta's airport is about a mile or so long or at least it's terminal layout is. However, it's laid out rather well with about half a mile long concourses parallel to each other with about a 1/4 mile between each other. It makes it easy to operate the corridors between each concourse underground.
It is well known that Atlanta, Chicago O'Hare and NYC/JFK are the top 3. But I am surprised that LAX is not the 4th on the list.
There are three other domestic airports in the LA area that cannibalize LAX flights. LAX like SFO are geared more towards trans ocean flights and major domestic cities. Chicago has Midway and Atlanta has none.
ATLANTA is just astounding. This is not even all of it.
Not really impressed by it. I mean look at all those smaller jets and I'm willing to bet 95% is Delta. Give me an airport with an abundance of foreign metal on wide body aircraft any day.
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