Los Angeles International Airport, the primary airport serving Los Angeles, is best known by its airport abbreviation, LAX. The airport is located in city's southwestern area, about 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
LAX takes care of more 'origin and destination' passenger traffic than any other airport in the world. It also is the globe's fifth-busiest airport when measured by passenger traffic, and 11th by cargo traffic. In 2004 more than 60 million travelers were taken care of and more than two million tons of freight. Not surprisingly, it is the busiest airport in California.
In terms of passengers from overseas, LAX is America's second-busiest airport, behind only New York's JFK International Airport. It is the major regional hub for United Airlines, and the secondary hub for Delta.
United Airlines operates to the most destinations, followed by Delta, then American. United also sends out the most international flights to the Pacific, while it, Air France, and Lufthansa share the lead with destinations in Europe. Delta has the most flights to Latin America.
The airport is situated on 3,425 acres, and is one of the most propitious locations for commercial airplane spotting, most notably at Clutter's Park in El Segundo, where the entire southern region of the airport can be watched. Another viewing location is right under the final approach for one of the many runways, on a grass lawn next to a local burger restaurant. Spotters may study a wide variety of low-flying commercial airplanes from directly underneath.
Though LAX is the largest airport in Los Angeles, the region has several airport systems because of its huge size. A good number of the area's top tourist attractions are closer to airports other than LAX. For example, Griffith Park and Hollywood are nearer to Burbank's Bob Hope Airport, while John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana is nearby to Disneyland and Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Long Beach Airport is in proximity to many of southern Los Angeles' coastal attractions.
