FOURTH OF JULY PASSENGER TRAVEL EXPECTED TO INCREASE AT LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AND ONTARIO AIRPORTS
Airport Officials Remind Passengers Fireworks Are Banned on Aircraft

(Los Angeles, California – June 30, 2006) Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) expects to serve more than 900,000 travelers over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Friday, June 30 through Tuesday, July 4, an increase of one percent over the holiday period last year.

With the Fourth of July holiday approaching, airport enforcement officials reminded passengers that fireworks - including sparklers and bottle rockets – are prohibited in airport sterile areas, in the cabins of aircraft, and in checked baggage. The 2005 Congressionally-imposed ban on carrying onboard cigarette lighters remains in effect. TSA screeners confiscate hundreds of lighters from travelers each day at LAX.

To avoid airport delays, officials recommend passengers to print their boarding passes using home or office computers or check-in at automated kiosks located in the ticketing lobbies. For up-to-the-minute airport, traffic and parking conditions, LAX AiRadio (530 on the AM dial) now provides live programming covering the latest traffic and airport conditions. Motorists picking up arriving passengers are advised to use the free 24-hour LAX Cell Phone Waiting Lot, while awaiting a call from their arriving party in the Central Terminal Area (CTA). The cell phone waiting lot is located at 9011 Airport Boulevard about one-half mile from the CTA.

This year LAX travelers can use the new Valet Parking Lot opposite Terminal 4 on the lower/arrivals level. The rate is $38 per day or $10 per hour up to the daily maximum. Alternative fuel vehicles with stickers permitting their operation in the freeway carpool lanes park at the rate of $30 per day, the rate charged in other Central Terminal Area Lots.

Overall, this year’s summer passenger traffic from Memorial Day to Labor Day at LAX is expected to be 18.7 million – a slight increase over last summer’s 18.5 million.

Ontario International Airport (ONT) expects 130,000 travelers to go through the Inland Empire airport during the five-day holiday weekend, an increase over the 102,000 passengers from the same period last year. ONT is forecast to set another record this summer with nearly two million travelers, up five percent over last year’s 1.9 million passengers.

For more travel tips, visit www.lawa.org on the Internet.