-- MEDIA STATEMENT --
In response to the U.S. Homeland Security Department's upgrading of the national threat condition level to ORANGE

(Los Angeles, California -- March 17, 2003) Prepared statement by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) officials in response to the U.S. Homeland Security Department's upgrading of the national threat condition level to ORANGE:

• Los Angeles International (LAX), Ontario International (ONT), and Van Nuys Airports (VNY) are responding to the upgraded level of threat condition by heightening alertness and enhancing security.

• All airline operations at LAX and ONT are reported normal and expected to remain so.

• Airport officials note that 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.

• All vehicles entering the Central Terminal Area are subject to random inspection. Of note, at LAX, Los Angeles Airport Police may establish at any time vehicle checkpoints (similar to sobriety checkpoints) at three of the four entrances to the airport's Central Terminal Area: (1) westbound Century Boulevard, (2) 96^th Street and (3) northbound Sepulveda Boulevard, north of the Sepulveda Tunnel. The fourth entrance at southbound Sepulveda Boulevard at Century Boulevard may be closed to all vehicles except those accessing the private parking lot, Park One.

• Officials added that they have no information indicating that any LAWA facilities are the subject of any specific threats or alerts.

• 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.