Los Angeles International’s Terminals 2 and 3 will be Delta’s new home at the airport. (Image: Delta)
Just a year after Delta partnered with Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) for a big redevelopment of Terminal 5 at Los Angeles International, the airline has revealed details of a much larger project at LAX – and it doesn’t involve Terminal 5 at all.
The airline said this week it will team up with LAWA again to undertake a massive, years-long overhaul of what will become Delta’s new home at LAX : Terminals 2 and 3, replacing its current base in Terminals 5 and 6. LAWA’s board has just signed off on the deal, which will also include the eventual construction of a post-security connector to the north side of the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
The overhauls of T2 and T3 at LAX will feature a light, spacious design. (Image: Delta)
It seems like there is no end to the ongoing construction and improvement projects at LAX, and this new one will certainly keep things going for a while. Delta said completion of all aspects of the big $1.9 billion project isn’t expected for seven years.
The idea is to bring Delta close to its various partner carriers in T2 and T3, including Aeromexico, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia. The new connector to the Bradley Terminal will also mean “seamless access” for Delta passengers to international partner airlines like Air France-KLM, Alitalia, China Eastern and China Southern.
Delta said that after the terminal overhauls are finished, its customers will see new Delta Sky Clubs in both terminals, a private check-in lounge for Delta One travelers, expedited check-in services for its Delta Shuttle flights, and an integrated in-line baggage system. “The facility will offer convenient passenger flows, sufficient gate-area seating, and a world-class concession program in partnership with Westfield Corporation,” Delta said.
The airline’s announcement didn’t give a timeline for the actual move into the new T2/3 space, but Delta won’t wait until the work is finished before it changes locations. That move is likely to happen as soon as next year. “We will renovate while there (i.e., in T2/3), so four years of construction,” Delta’s Ranjan Goswami told TravelSkills. “It was the only way to do it.” He added that the airlines currently occupying T2 and T3 that are not Delta partners will move over to T5 and T6.
Related: San Francisco’s new $2 billion terminal
The overall layout of LAX terminals. (Image: Los Angeles International Airport)
The move to the north side of the airport will give Delta the extra space and gates it needs to support its ongoing expansion of operations at LAX. The company noted that over the past seven years, it has increased its LAX operations from 70 daily departures to more than 175, and has more than doubled the total number of seats it offers there. Just this year, it added five flights a day from LAX to Denver, broadened its Delta Shuttle service to include LAX-Seattle as well as LAX-San Francisco, and added a third daily LAX-Boston flight.
Do you fly through LAX much? Thoughts on the move? We were just there today, and the place was bulging at the seems! See below.
Delta’s Terminal 5 at LAX on a busy summer day (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
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Kirk says
July 25, 2016 at 8:50 amOk, this will be my last reply to you because you clearly have no idea what you are talking about and you just keep on making up your own facts. All of DL’s investor presentations are available on the internet. Go read them and you’ll see their strategy. Since the merger, MSP and DTW have BOTH grown. DL states that they are the 2nd and 3rd most profitable hubs in its network and that they will both continue to grow modestly in the foreseeable future. This is not a holdover from some merger. There is no scheme to shut one of them down when no one is looking. Since you’re a little slow, let me repeat with big letters: They are both PROFITABLE and GROWING.
Yes, DL gets the money back thru rent breaks. I don’t make the rules. If you don’t like it, go whine to LAWA. Not me.
SkyTeam is a ver loose alliance. DL prefers to make its own friends. Virgin Atlantic (not SkyTeam) is one of DL’s best friends. Korean (SkyTeam) is one of DL’s worst friends. Those are the facts
Tom McNamara says
July 25, 2016 at 8:18 am• As for the multiple hubs argument–the Three Sisters are trying to spin a negative into a positive…by absorbing US Airways, Northwest, and Continental respectively there’s the need to fulfill the leases involved. But when a carrier can escape, they do. Just look at St. Louis and Cincinnati as a shining examples of Delta leaving places in the dust.
• “Rent discount”…right…so Delta gets to build whatever they want, so long as they pay for it and recoup those funds on the back-end. That’s a throwback to pre-regulation days, but given LAX’s low landing fees…believable. What it likely means though is all the carriers probably have been given this option with all the moving around. Still that effectively cedes SFO to United. And it puts immense pressure to win over-subscribed rights like LAX-JFK/LGA and not much to leverage Delta’s dominance at Atlanta…
Tom McNamara says
July 25, 2016 at 8:05 am• If KAL isn’t Delta’s biggest partner in Asia, I’m not sure what the point of SkyTeam is then. But it’s not a unique paradox for all of the Three Sisters. United has a big presence in Asia and yet probably the most codeshare partners in Star Alliance there.
Arcanum says
July 24, 2016 at 7:25 pmWow. That started on topic and then veered right off the road!
Kirk says
July 23, 2016 at 10:04 pmLOL, Korean air is most definitely NOT Delta’s major Asian partner. You can’t just make up your own facts as you please. KE is a level 4 DL partner (that’s the lowest level). DL has few (if any) KE codeshares, they give zero MQMs and zero MQDs for KE flights and they rarely (if ever) allow award bookings on KE. Delta’s website offers connections in ICN only if there is no other option. DL and AS have a far closer relationship than DL and KE (and that’s a very low bar).
DL like multiple hubs. They have 2 major hubs in NYC (LGA, JFK), 2 major hubs in the midwest (DTW, MSP), it’s perfectly in line with their strategy to have 2 major West Coast hubs. And they are currently in major growth mode on both of them.
On the LAWA website it says that DL is paying the renovations up front, but will get the money back in the form of rent discounts on those terminals.
Tom McNamara says
July 23, 2016 at 9:42 pmHi Kirk,
The flaw in your logic is that LA’s landing fees are among the lowest of all major airports in the US. That’s the reason Southwest starting flying there so early and why the terminals were so crappy for so long. There’s not some magic pot of money to do these upgrades…especially after the expansion of the Bradley terminal.
It also doesn’t make sense given amount of cash United had to pump into SFO and American will pony up for it’s LAX connection. And it also doesn’t make sense because both United and American are major tenants at LAX too. It would be one thing if this was Atlanta or Salt Lake City or another airport that is more or less captive to Delta. But LAX has plenty of lots of competition, and a big contribution to Delta would be a slap in the face to the others.
But the last reason this makes no sense is that Delta’s major international partner in Asia is Korean Air. While there’s a sizeable Korean population in LA that flies back and forth, the “hop-n-stop” model of air connections is dying off in Asia as the 787 gains popularity. So while Delta can build up its presence at Seattle and/or LA, it ends up cannibalizing precisely the business that would use that walkway behind security.
Frank Power says
July 23, 2016 at 1:54 pmThe official document posted on the LAWA’s page indicated that DL is paying for all airline-related items (more than just the Delta branded stuff but things like network wiring, baggage systems, etc.) Delta is paying for the T3 reconstruction but is getting credits from LAWA towards the rent. So you may be right that some point LAWA is going to shoulder more of the cost than Delta, especially if you consider lost rental income. Depends on how you see the benefit: Is it better for LAWA to follow a more traditional US approach of simply be a regulator and oversee things with Delta being responsible for the upkeep of the terminal or should LAWA follow a more international model where they are an active landlord and charge DL higher, perhaps even per flight rents. The former probably is better for both LAWA and Delta.
John says
July 23, 2016 at 1:27 pmI am not surprised by Delta’s move at LAX. This will be a good thing. So right side, Southwest at Terminal 1, then Delta 2 and 3. Terminal 5 will be where the displaced carriers will end up as they gradually move over while Delta is still there and T2 and T3 go through the remodel. I like the idea that nothing will get torn down as LAX can’t really do that. Just like United at SFO in full operations at SFO during remodel, this will not disrupt LAX that much. Alaska, Virgin America most affected, along with Frontier and perhaps other smaller carriers, ie Spirit. Back at SFO, we can be called World Airports too. I like what LAX does as it is a fun beachy place, not as stuck on itself as my native area is now. Palo Alto is awful now except for the fact at the Palo Alto Square theater, I saw “Cafe Society” with a handful of insecure types who gravitate to the middle of the theater when so many seats were empty. Only 20 people out of 500 seats. Typical. HA !
Kirk says
July 23, 2016 at 8:18 amWho said DL is paying for this? DL and LAWA will split the cost, they have not publicly shared the details of that split.
Kirk says
July 23, 2016 at 8:13 amDL’s plan has always been to build a major hub in SEA while, at the same time, significantly ramping up its LAX operations, so as to have a much larger West Coast footprint. I don’t know where you came up with that insane idea that SEA was supposed to replace LAX for DL, but that’s ridiculous.
They have been negotiating this deal with LAWA for 2 years, it’s definitely not vaporware. As for the cash thing, no one ever said DL is paying for this. DL and LAWA will split the cost, they have not publicly shared the details of that split.
Tom McNamara says
July 22, 2016 at 8:19 pmChris, I get the feeling this project is vaporware.
Sure, it makes sense that LAX wants to imitate United’s wild success connecting to SFO’s new international terminal. With American ponying up for the south runway, it’s only natural that Delta would take the last valuable spot of real estate on the north.
Except wasn’t Delta’s original plan to compete in Asia making their West Coast hub Seattle? And wouldn’t any company with cash piling up toss it into a building?
simpl3lang says
July 22, 2016 at 9:06 amThough delta occupy all of T5, they only use a few gates in T6
Andre Fortin says
July 21, 2016 at 6:15 pmT2 was just renovated but it’s not very big; 12 gates only while T5 has 14 gates. T3 has 13 gates VS 14 gates at T6. So all in all, there are fewer gates at T2 and T3 than T4 and T5.
Frank Power says
July 21, 2016 at 6:04 pmSounds like LAWA found a great solution in having Delta pay for massive improvements to a real fixer-uper. Plus it will move VX to be with parent-company Alaska, Air Canada gets to be close to its friend United and American gets to move the T6 gates closer to home in T5. I haven’t been in Terminal 3 since Feb ’01 on what became my penultimate TWA flight and the place was pretty run down then; I hear it hasn’t aged well in the last 15 years.
Chris McGinnis says
July 21, 2016 at 6:03 pmThank you! Great site. Looks like it will get rid of the rental car busses, but the roadways will remain the same. But should help! It reminds me of the rail link to the ConRAC center in ATL.
Moises Castillo says
July 21, 2016 at 5:49 pmhttp://connectinglax.com/
Chris McGinnis says
July 21, 2016 at 4:58 pmHonestly, I was expecting more out of the T5 renovation. Once you get inside, not much has changed except for the removal of the palm trees! But the expanded Sky Club is quite nice.
Chris McGinnis says
July 21, 2016 at 4:56 pmHey Nick: I’ve heard about that idea, but never seen a plan around it. Might be pie in the sky, but a good idea in any case!
Nick Aster says
July 21, 2016 at 4:41 pmLooks good… isn’t LAX looking to get rid of that ghastly gridlocked car/bus circle and move all car drop-offs off site with a train connector? Doesn’t look like any sign of that here…
Greg says
July 21, 2016 at 10:20 amYikes – that’s going to be an interesting four years. Can’t imagine the club / premium checkin will be up to snuff for at least 2 years.
T2 is decent but not great after its renovation. And T3….oh boy…