FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 19, 2022

Contact:
LAWA Public Relations
(424) 646-5260

 

(Los Angeles, CA) More than 150 emergency response personnel from 15 organizations took part today in the 2022 LAX Air Exercise (AirEx), a full-scale simulation designed to test Los Angeles International Airport’s (LAX’s) readiness to respond to an aircraft accident on the airfield. 

 

The objective of the exercise is to evaluate the operational capability and readiness of LAX’s incident management and emergency response system in a real-time environment in which people, equipment and materials are mobilized and deployed.  

 

"Safety and security are paramount at LAX, and this triannual exercise is a chance to bring together many of our stakeholders and agency partners to practice a real time, full-scale, coordinated response to a major emergency," said Justin Erbacci, Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). "We have some of the finest first responders in the world, including our very own Airport Police and Los Angeles Fire Department, as well as our other city, county and federal partners, and we thank them and our other participants for working together to make LAX the leader in airport safety.”

 

About 150 volunteers role-played accident victims, including many in moulage – special effects makeup applied to simulate injuries. The exercise was monitored by a number of experienced evaluators, and more than 100 observers also were on hand to learn from the large-sale training. Among the observers were representatives of dozens of airlines and airport stakeholders, as well as the U.S. State Department and the consulates of 13 nations, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Hungary, Italy, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Argentina and Austria.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires the unrehearsed exercise to be conducted by LAWA at least once every three years. LAWA officials will use information gathered during the exercise to help further refine emergency response plans at LAX.

Organizations represented at today’s exercise included LAWA, the Los Angeles City, Los Angeles County and El Segundo Fire Departments; Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office; Federal Bureau of Investigation; FAA; U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard.

 

About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

LAX, the fifth-busiest airport in the world in 2021 with 48 million passengers, is in the midst of a $15-billion capital improvement program that will touch on all nine passenger terminals and build new facilities, including an Automated People Mover (APM) train, Consolidated Rent-A-Car (ConRAC) facility and the West Gates at Tom Bradley International Terminal.

In 2019, LAX served nearly 88.1 million passengers and offered an average of 700 daily nonstop flights to 113 destinations in the U.S. and 1,200 weekly nonstop flights to 91 markets in 46 countries on 72 commercial airlines.

LAX generates 620,600 jobs in Southern California, with labor income of $37.3 billion and economic output (business revenues) of more than $126.6 billion, according to an economic study based on 2014 operations. This activity added $6.2 billion to local and state revenues and $8.7 billion in federal tax revenues. The study also reported that LAX's ongoing capital improvement program creates an additional 121,640 annual jobs with labor income of $7.6 billion and economic output of $20.3 billion; $966 million in state and local taxes; and $1.6 billion in federal tax revenues.

LAX is part of a system of two Southern California airports – along with Van Nuys general aviation – that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City's general fund.

LAWA is leading the aviation industry in sustainability practices, with initiatives related to water management, energy (electricity) management, air quality, recycling and natural resources management. In 2019, LAX received Level III ACI Airport Carbon Accreditation from Airports Council International-Europe.

LAWA is also a leader in inclusivity, operating eight programs that provide opportunities for business enterprises including local, small, minority-owned, veteran-owned and disadvantaged firms, and working together with community partners to offer the HireLAX Apprenticeship Readiness Program, which targets local workers to make them ready for rewarding careers in the construction trades, and the Build LAX Academy, designed to prepare small contracting businesses for success when working on projects at LAX.

 

LAX was named a top-10 U.S. airport by SKYTRAX in 2018, and was honored as the "Most Innovative Airport for Passenger Experience" in 2019 by the American Association of Airport Executives. LAX is the second-most popular airport in the world to appear on Instagram, according to wego.com. Other recent honors have included selection as the No. 9 Best Airport (Wall Street Journal); No. 7 Best On-Time Performance for a Mega-Hub Airport (OAG); one of "The World's Best Airports for Business Travelers" (GlobeHunters); Public-Private Partnership of the Year (P3 Bulletin); Urth Caffe, Best Airport Coffee Concession of the Year (Global FAB Awards); Innovation of the Year, Consolidated Rent-A-Car Facility (ARTBA); Best Project, United Airlines Terminal 7 and 8 Redevelopment Program (Engineering News Record California); North American Public-Private Partnership Deal of the Year (IJ Global); and Innovative Transportation Solution of the Year, Automated People Mover (WTS LA).

 

As a covered entity under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Angeles does not discriminate on the basis of disability and, upon request, will provide reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access to its programs, services, and activities.  Alternative formats in large print, braille, audio, and other forms (if possible) will be provided upon request.

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