Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is about to begin its last big terminal project ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Terminal 5, known as "Delta's Oasis at LAX" when it opened in its current form in 1988, is being demolished and completely rebuilt as a modern concourse with all the amenities travelers expect today.
"This is a really big deal," Hans Thilenius, deputy executive director of terminal development and improvement at LAX operator Los Angeles World Airports, said during a September board meeting. "This is transformative for our guests and our employees, and it's a riveting design — it's gotta have the wow factor."
To make that "wow factor" happen, though, Terminal 5's current tenants — American Airlines, JetBlue and Spirit Airlines — must move.
The shifts start Tuesday, Oct. 21. First up is JetBlue. The carrier will move its average of 20 daily departures from LAX to Terminal 1, currently home to just Southwest Airlines.
Spirit will move its check-in desks to Terminal 2 on Wednesday, Oct. 22. The airline's average of 15 daily departures will operate from the Midfield Satellite Concourse South, or MSC South, west of the Tom Bradley International Terminal that officially opens Tuesday. Buses will shuttle travelers from Terminal 2 to the new concourse.
And American, LAX's second-largest airline by flights, will consolidate its flights in Terminal 4 and the Tom Bradley International Terminal from Oct. 28.
The $1.4 billion Terminal 5 project is one of several aimed at preparing LAX for the Olympics. The largest of those is a new automated train linking all the airport's terminals with a new Los Angeles Metro station and consolidated rental car center that LAWA CEO John Ackerman hopes will open by June 2026. Others include the complete reconstruction of Terminal 4, which is already partially done, and upgrades to most of the airport's other terminals.
A new Terminal 5 for the Olympics
The new Terminal 5 concourse aims to be the next great space at LAX. Initial renderings show a glass-walled, multilevel concourse with a midcentury modern vibe inside and an outdoor patio for all travelers at its end.
"We are going to make sure that it's a lovely space," Courtney Moore, deputy executive director of strategy, innovation and experience at LAWA, said at the September board meeting.
And the new public terrace, she said, will feature "all of the telescopes you would anticipate if you were at the Griffith Observatory so you can do some planespotting and enjoy the natural landscape to the area."
The Terminal 5 rebuild is very much needed, Southern California resident and aviation expert Brett Snyder wrote in his Cranky Flier blog on Tuesday.
"The terminal was built [in 1988] with a weird food concept that saw it go down to a lower level in the middle. The gates on each side sat higher. And many of those gates had just about no room," for travelers to wait for their flights."
Snyder described the new design as "far more functional" with much easier connections to adjacent terminals 4 and 6.
American flyers win, maybe
American stands to benefit the most from the Terminal 5 rebuild. The airline will have preferential use of 10 of the new concourse's 15 gates when it opens in May 2028, documents from LAWA's October board meeting show.
The airline currently uses just five gates in Terminal 5.
At the same time, it appears American will lose its remote terminal, dubbed the "Eagle's Nest," for regional jet flights when the new concourse is complete, according to LAWA board documents.
Overall, the Terminal 5 project means a better airport experience and easier connections for American flyers — especially if they no longer need to take a bus to a remote concourse.
Whether all of this opens in time for the Olympics remains to be seen. The current timeline has the Terminal 5 concourse fully closed by Oct. 28, demolition taking three months and then construction lasting two years — a doable timeline but one that lacks much cushion before the opening ceremonies July 14, 2028.
"Because our traffic is down, we don't actually need the capacity in this terminal to deliver an excellent experience for the Olympics," said Ackerman in response to questions at the September board meeting. "Our minimum plan is we do the [Terminal 5] headhouse and, kind of, the front five gates and then be buttoned up so it presents a beautiful, excellent experience for the Olympics."
LAWA has until the second quarter of 2027 to decide whether it will present a partially built Terminal 5 to the world for the games or a fully built-out concourse.
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