VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRLINES CARGO LEASE AT LAX APPROVED

(Los Angeles, California – May 17, 2001) The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners approved today a $6.6-million, five-year lease with Virgin Atlantic Airways for 108,000 square feet of cargo handling, warehouse, and office space in the newly opened Cargo Building A at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), which owns and operates LAX, completed Cargo Building A in December 2000 at a cost of $12 million. The new facility replaces two recently demolished air cargo buildings with one building of equal size.

Cargo Building A represents the most modern LAWA-owned cargo facility with the building's key features being its striking architectural design that compliments the Gateway LAX Enhancements Project and public art pylons. Functional elements of the building include easy access to the I-105 and I-405 interstate freeways, airfield access, and ability to accommodate modern cargo-handling technology, such as elevated transfer vehicle equipment.

Cargo Building A is part of LAWA’s efforts to renovate outdated air cargo buildings along Century Boulevard, one of the main thoroughfares leading to LAX, and to improve the appearance of these warehouses with landscaping coordinated with the Gateway LAX Enhancement Project. Cargo Building A replaces the 145,000 square feet that comprised Air Cargo Buildings 5 and 6. Those two buildings once housed air cargo operations of several airlines, and at one time, the LAX headquarters of the U.S. Customs Service.

(TW - 5/17/01)