LAX CELEBRATES PRIDE – PYLONS WILL ILLUMINATE IN A RAINBOW OF COLORS FOR LA PRIDE WEEK AND IN SUPPORT OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY

(Los Angeles, California – June 9, 2017) The iconic Gateway pylons at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) will light up in a rainbow of colors this weekend in recognition of LGBTQ Heritage Month and LA Pride Week.

 “Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is proud to join City Hall and the City of Los Angeles in support of diversity and equality,” said Trevor Daley, LAWA Director of External Affairs. “Los Angeles and California are at the forefront of recognizing LGBTQ rights.  With the LA Pride Festival in West Hollywood this weekend, and on behalf of more than 4,000 LAWA employees, we stand strong with the LGBTQ community and are glad to play a role in reminding the public of this important fight.”  

Los Angeles’ first LGBT Pride Parade was held in June 1970, on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York’s Greenwich Village, an event seen as the biggest contributor to the modern effort for equal rights for members of the LGBTQ community.  The parade in West Hollywood has evolved into a two-day festival, with other related events getting underway tonight.

The pylons, which line 1.5 miles of Century Boulevard and grow in height from 25 to 60 feet before culminating in a ring of 15 100-foot-tall columns at the entrance to LAX, are capable of displaying more than 16 million colors.  They were installed in 2000, and received a major upgrade five years later when the original lamps were replaced with 2,000 light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

The rainbow pattern will be in place starting tonight, and continuing through the weekend.

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 742 daily nonstop flights to 101 cities in the U.S. and 1,280 weekly nonstop flights to 77 cities in 42 countries on 64 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 620,610 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 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,