Terminal Situation Gets Better at LAX

Meet the new and improved Tom Bradley Terminal.

It has $737 million worth of upgrades, featuring about 45,000 new square feet for baggage screening. That should ease congestion around ticketing counters and prevent  passengers from having to wait in line for checked luggage to be examined.

The baggage area will have larger, high-capacity carousels. The Transportation Security Administration will have a new screening system,  featuring high-tech explosives detection machines.

The terminal also has new airline check-in and passenger arrival  lobbies, boarding gates, restrooms, and "dynamic video panels" and digital  signage for flight information.

The place also looks different -- more "contemporary," which isn't hard to achieve with a 26-year-old airport terminal

All of this took three years to complete.

The renovation began in February 2007 and was completed for $18 million  less than the original $755.3 million budget. Funding came from various  sources, including passenger facility charges, revenue bonds, airline  reimbursements and airport revenues.

The Transportation Security Administration contributed $106 million  toward the baggage screening system.

Interior renovations may be complete, but work is continuing on the  exterior of the terminal.

The $1.5-billion Bradley West Project -- one of the largest public works  projects in the city's history -- calls for a new concourse with 15 boarding  gates, each capable of handling passengers arriving and departing on giant new  airliners, such as the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, according to  LAX.

Built in 1984, the Tom Bradley International Terminal is LAX's primary  facility serving international travelers. Last year, more than 30 airlines at  the terminal served more than 8.6 million passengers -- about 57 percent of  LAX's overall 15.1 million international passenger volume.