Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 3, No. 24 - June 17, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Business Briefs...................2
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................7
Classifieds............................2
Entertainment......................2
Hawthorne............................3
Lawndale..............................4
Inglewood.............................5
Legals....................................6
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Mostly
Sunny
77˚/69˚
Saturday
Sunny
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Sunday
Sunny
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Lawndale Tribune
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Featuring the Weekly Newspapers of Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale
Easier Travel Will Be Coming to
South Bay with a People Mover
One of many mockups for the new LAX people mover train to be built in the next two years. For more information see story below.
LAX CEO Justin Erbacci Discusses
Airport Plans Ahead of the 2028 Olympics
By Kiersten Vannest
Tired of LAX traffic congestion? CEO of
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Justin
Erbacci shares plans for a streamlined LAX
ahead of the 2028 Olympics, as well as his
experience managing an airport during a
global pandemic.
Erbacci’s days are long and filled with everything
from Covid related upkeep to ground
communication with flights to construction
projects underway and in development.
“[The day] starts early and goes long,”
he laughs, trying to explain his day-to-day
work. Erbacci was appointed interim CEO
of LAWA in January of 2020, just before
California went into lockdown because of
the virus. Before that, he worked as the
Chief Operations Officer, and he was officially
appointed full-time CEO status in
June of last year.
LAWA encompasses LAX, Van Nuys
airport, and an aviation-related property in
Palmdale. In order to operate a major airport,
there are three major entities involved: the
airport operator (in this case, LAWA), commercial
air carriers and aviation businesses,
and federal agencies like the Department of
Homeland Security and the Department of
Transportation.
With one of the largest metropolitan hubs
in the world, including travel from around
the globe, stepping into this leadership role
would prove a challenge at any time for anyone.
But for Erbacci, he took over leadership
with all that entails in the wake of travel and
airports becoming a significant point of focus
associated with medical risks.
With the threat of Covid looming large,
Erbacci didn’t miss a beat. Taking federal
guidance and safety precautions into consideration,
he created a Covid task force to handle
everything from implementing new touchless
technologies all over the facility to implementing
new cleaning standards and training to keep
every employee up to date and on the same
page. This includes things like new UV light
sterilized handrails on escalators and buttons on
elevators. Many normal airport functions moved
over to a format usable on a mobile phone.
Erbacci worked in his office every day of the
pandemic to ensure the safety of all essential
workers still required to go to the airport and
begin working on a health and recovery plan
for the future.
As for what’s going on as we begin to exit
the pandemic, some exciting new projects are
underway. Erbacci explains some of the new
plans he’s approved and is developing with
the LAWA team.
“We have a $14.5 billion improvement
program going on,” he says. The project
he is most excited about is the construction
of a people mover train that will transport
travelers to and from the airport and all
terminals, effectively mitigating the need
for cars to be in the center of the airport.
The new people mover train will have
three stations within the airport: a west stop
near the Bradley International Terminal, a
Central Terminal stop, and the third stop
between terminals 1 and 7. From here, the
train will continue eastward to a stop at an
intermodal transportation facility. This will
be a remote parking lot with about 4,300 See Justin Erbacci, page 4
Justin Erbacci, CEO of Los Angeles World Airports.
spaces that will allow for parking, as well
as ride pickups and drop-offs.
Continuing east, the people mover train will
intersect with the Crenshaw metro line, allowing
access by metro to the airport. Finally, the
last station will be at the largest consolidated
rental car facility in the United States.
“It will be the second-largest cement structure
in the United States, second only to the
Pentagon,” says Erbacci. The idea with all
of this is that all rental car transactions will
happen at this final station, residents will have
an easier time accessing the airport sans car
via the metro, and all cars and hotel shuttles
can mostly use the remote parking lot, where
guests can then enter the airport by train.
With all of these measures, the flow of travel
through LAX will be much more ergonomic
for a city of this size.