-- MEDIA STATEMENT --
(Los Angeles, California - May 20, 2003) Statement by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) officials in response to the White House raising the nation's terror threat level to orange or "high":
- Los Angeles International (LAX), Ontario International (ONT), and Van Nuys Airports (VNY) are responding by heightening alertness and enhancing security. Airport Police are working with the Transportation Security Administration, local law enforcement officials and air carriers to implement a range of security enhancements appropriate to the heightened security alert.
- There is no information indicating that any LAWA facilities are the subject of any specific threats or alerts.
- This is the third time the nation's threat level has been elevated to orange. LAWA officials point out that during previous orange alerts, travelers were not significantly inconvenienced and that is expected to be the case during this third alert period.
- All airline operations at LAX and ONT are reported normal and expected to remain so.
- While the public may notice some increased security related to operational alertness, other security measures are confidential and may go largely unnoticed by most people. Some of the visible indications of increased security will be the presence of additional uniformed officers in front of and inside the passenger terminals.
- Vehicles entering the Central Terminal Area are subject to random inspection. At LAX, Airport Police will establish vehicle checkpoints (similar to sobriety checkpoints) at all of the entrances to the airport's Central Terminal Area and conduct random inspections.
- Law enforcement presence at LAX includes hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes officers from Airport Police, Los Angeles Police Department and numerous federal agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Air Marshals, U.S. Customs, as well as K-9 patrols and special operations units.
- Los Angeles World Airports, the City department that owns and operates LAX, ONT and VNY, remains committed to providing the necessary resources to maintain a high level of safety and security for the traveling public and airport workers.
