LAX AND AWG REACH MILESTONE IN DELIVERING MORE THAN ONE MILLION PUBLIC WI-FI SESSIONS IN ONE MONTH

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the largest U.S. airport to offer free Wi-Fi, announced today that its wireless internet service, operated by Advanced Wireless Group (AWG), achieved a significant milestone in surpassing one million public Wi-Fi sessions delivered in the month of July alone.

One year ago, LAX became the largest airport in the country to offer its passengers free access to truly unrestricted Wi-Fi through a concessions agreement with AWG, the leading provider of free airport Wi-Fi services in the U.S. With the explosion of mobile devices and consumers’ increasing desire to stay connected while traveling, LAX recognized the opportunity to satisfy this growing demand while continuing to deliver on its dedication to excellent customer service.

While visiting LAX over the last year, travelers have enjoyed the option of unlimited complimentary Wi-Fi sessions at basic speeds after engaging with brief, sponsored content. For those seeking a commercial-free experience with greater speed and bandwidth a premium service option is available for a nominal fee.

“Since LAX began offering free Wi-Fi last year, we’ve seen the passenger experience improve tremendously,” said LAWA Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey. “As we continue to build the future of LAX with the construction of the New Tom Bradley International Terminal and renovations to existing terminals, free Wi-Fi is a key component of LAWA’s commitment to providing excellent customer service. As part of this effort, we will continue to identify areas for network improvements within the 4 million square feet of terminal space at LAX and work alongside AWG to ensure an optimal web experience for all of our customers.” 

AWG, the pioneer of the Hybrid Wireless Management Model (HWMM), has been providing high-quality Wi-Fi to airport passengers since 2004. Following award of the contract in June 2012, AWG was able to transition the existing infrastructure in under two weeks to accommodate this new free service. This ensured no disruption in travelers’ access to the network by making the upgrades before the existing operator’s agreement expired. Working at unprecedented speeds in cooperation with Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the majority of upgrades were completed by September 2012. Ongoing upgrades will continue throughout the duration of the AWG agreement.

“We knew that making these critical upgrades in such a short period of time would be a significant challenge, but we were confident that the goal would be met,” said Scott Phillips, President and CEO at AWG. “One million users in a single month and nine million in the first year are phenomenal statistics as we are not aware of any other airport Wi-Fi network seeing this level of utilization. We are happy to see so many satisfied visitors using the service at LAX and look forward to our ongoing work with LAWA to ensure the network continues to meet and exceed travelers’ expectations.”

Over the past year, both LAX and AWG have worked diligently in monitoring the networks capacity and traffic patterns throughout the upgrade process to address any customer complaints along the way and ensure optimal connectivity. Always taking customer feedback into consideration, whether positive or negative, LAX continues to make improving the airport experience for its travelers a top priority.

About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

LAX is the sixth busiest airport in the world and third in the United States, offering 660 daily flights to 96 domestic cities and 910 weekly nonstop flights to 59 cities in 30 countries on 60 commercial air carriers. It ranks 14th in the world and fifth in the U.S. in air cargo tonnage processed. In 2012, LAX served nearly 63.7 million passengers, processed over 1.9 million tons of air cargo valued at over $86.9 billion, and handled 605,480 aircraft operations (landings and takeoffs). An economic impact study in 2011 reported that operations at LAX generated 294,400 jobs in Los Angeles County with labor income of $13.6 billion and economic output of more than $39.7 billion. This activity added $2.5 billion to local and state revenues. LAX is part of a system of three Southern California airports – along with LA/Ontario International and 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.

About Advanced Wireless Group, LLC