LAWA’S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TEAMS WIN THREE AWARDS RECOGNIZING LAX’S RECENT AIRLINE MOVE AND WEB-BASED LIVE PARKING APP

(Los Angeles, California – September 1, 2017)  Three teams from Los Angeles World Airports’ (LAWA) Information Management & Technology Group (IMTG) were each recognized with “Excellence in Technology” Awards from Government Technology Magazine.  The awards were presented on Tuesday at the annual Digital Government Summit in Downtown Los Angeles, which honors technology innovations made in the public sector. LAWA’s IMTG teams earned two “2017 Outstanding Project” awards for LAX’s “Parking Lot Capacity” web app and IMTG’s role in the recent Airline Relocation project, and one “2017 Outstanding IT Service and Support” award for providing LAWA, airlines, and other members of the airport community with remarkable customer support throughout the Airline Relocation project.

            “When it comes to the guest experience, LAWA’s IMTG group touches the lives of millions of guests each year as they interact with the airport in a variety of ways,” said LAWA Chief Information Officer Aura Moore.  “Most people don’t realize it, but our IMTG group does incredibly important work behind the scenes that make LAX and VNY secure, responsive, dynamic, and receptive to guests as they start and end their airport journeys.  Anyone who kept a close eye on how smooth the airline relocation progressed, or has had to look for a parking space at the airport, knows that LAWA IMTG has done an incredible job. We appreciate Government Technology Magazine’s recognition of their achievements.”

The first of two “Outstanding IT Project” awards recognized LAWA’s IT Systems/Infrastructure/Operations team for their work on building, relocating, and ultimately bringing online the physical IT infrastructure used by 26 airlines, nine fixed-based operators (FBOs), and ground service equipment operators at LAX in support of the recent Airline Relocation in May.  The team spent 14 months planning for the relocation and construction of IT infrastructure, which included disconnecting, reconnecting, and ensuring compatibility with each company’s individual computer network.  Their work ensured that information related to aircraft scheduling, baggage processing, passenger booking, and other data was up-to-date, and that the infrastructure was secure.  As a result of their work, the airline relocation was lauded throughout local and global media as proceeding on-time and virtually error-free.

The second “Outstanding IT Project” awards recognized the LAX Real-time Parking Structure Web App development team, whose app debuted in November 2016. The app provides real-time parking structure occupancy information for each of LAX’s seven parking structures. Guests can track parking space occupancy by color and percentage, and use Google Maps to plan trips to the least occupied structure. The web app is integrated with Waze, a community-based traffic and navigation map, to provide guests with supplementary traffic information. When used as a planning aid, the app allows guests to make informed decisions about where they park ahead of time, which can reduce traffic across the airport. The web-based app is viewable in any modern web browser, and is available now

The “Outstanding IT Service and Support Award” recognized Raymond Jimenez, who as IT Project Manager for Airline Relocation Project, led the IT technical team that planned and executed the relocation of all information technology systems and equipment needed by the aforementioned airlines and companies during the airline relocation.  His team’s attention to detail and repeated testing and validation ensured that operations continued without virtually any disruption. 

“Any one of these achievements, from our LAX Parking App to the team’s incredible achievements during the airline relocation, is noteworthy by itself.  But to have three in the same year truly reflects the culture of innovation and dedication we’ve worked hard to foster at LAWA,” Moore added.

About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

           LAX is the fourth busiest airport in the world, second in the United States, and was named one of Skytrax’ 2017 Top 10 Most Improved Airports.  LAX served more than 80.9 million passengers in 2016.  LAX offers 737 daily nonstop flights to 100 cities in the U.S. and 1,386 weekly nonstop flights to 88 cities in 44 countries on 73 commercial air carriers.  LAX ranks 14th in the world and fifth in the U.S. in air cargo tonnage processed, with more than 2.2 million tons of air cargo valued at over $101.4 billion.  LAX handled 697,138 operations (landings and takeoffs) in 2016. 

An economic study based on 2014 operations reported LAX generated 620,600 jobs in Southern California with labor income of $37.3 billion and economic output (business revenues) of more than $126.6 billion. 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 also the second most popular airport in the world to appear on Instagram according to wego.com. 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, a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City’s general fund.

For more information about LAX,

follow on Twitter @flyLAXAirport , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LAInternationalAirport , and on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/laxairport1 .  Information about LAX’s ongoing multi-billion-dollar LAX Modernization Program, as well as tips and shortcuts to help navigate LAX during construction