Los Angeles International Airport has 161 gates in nine passenger terminals arranged in the shape of the letter U or a horseshoe. On the landside of the airport, LAX Shuttle route A buses allow passengers to move between all terminals. On the airside, various pedestrian corridors allow passengers to move between all terminals on foot without having to exit and reenter airport security. Additionally, by June 2026, the airport will be served by SkyLink, which will connect terminals to one another on the landside, along with providing connections to the LAX Rental Car Center, parking facilities, and the LAX/Metro Transit Center, which is served by the Los Angeles Metro Rail system and public bus routes. In addition to these terminals, there are 2 million square feet (190,000 m2) of cargo facilities.
History The basic layout of the airport dates back to 1958 when the architecture firm Pereira & Luckman was contracted to plan the re-design of the airport for the "jet age." The plan, developed with architects Welton Becket and Paul Williams, called for a series of terminals and parking structures in the central portion of the property, with these buildings connected at the center by a huge steel-and-glass dome. The dome was never built but the Theme Building built in the central area became a focal point visible to people coming to the airport. Each terminal originally had a common design: a satellite building out in the middle of the ramp, reached by tunnels from a separate ticketing building. Originally the tunnels were supposed to have moving walkways. Still, they were eliminated due to funding cuts. Instead, they received mosaics which came to be known as the LAX color tunnels, to make the 300–500-foot (91–152 m) walk feel shorter. Terminals 7 and 8 (built for United Airlines) were the first to be completed on June 25, 1961, followed by Terminals 3 (Trans World Airlines), 4 (American Airlines), and 5 (Western Airlines) in September. Terminal 2 opened as the international terminal in December. Terminal 6, a "consolidated" terminal for other domestic carriers, was the last to open. A significant airport expansion came in the early 1980s, ahead of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. In November 1983 a second-level roadway was added, separating departing and arriving travelers; Terminal 1, which had been planned in the 1958 design, opened in January 1984; and the new Tom Bradley International Terminal opened in June 1984. Throughout the 1980s, the original terminals (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) were also rebuilt with connector buildings that transformed the separate satellite and ticketing buildings into one continuous terminal.
Inter-terminal connections While connections between some terminals had existed for years, by October 2023, as a result of the ongoing Landside Access Modernization Program (LAMP), passengers could walk through all the main terminals without needing to exit the secure area and be rescreened:
A departures-level walkway connects Terminals 1, 2, and 3. Skybridges connect the Tom Bradley International Terminal (Terminal B) to Terminals 3 and 4. A tunnel connects the main Tom Bradley International Terminal (Terminal B) concourse to the West Gates. A tunnel connects Terminals 4, 5, and 6. A departures-level walkway connects Terminals 6, 7, and 8. There are also airside shuttles connecting some of these terminals; for instance, some airlines have check-in counters and baggage claim at Terminal 1, but provide shuttle bus service to and from the distant Bradley West gates, where their planes arrive. The satellite regional terminal is only accessible by an airside shuttle bus that connects to Terminals 4 and 5.
Terminal 1 Terminal 1 has 14 gates: Gates 9, 11A, 11B, 12A, 12B, 13–16, 17A, 17B, 18A, 18B, and the bus gate. As of January 2026, this terminal is served by JetBlue and as an operating base for Southwest Airlines. The terminal also has check-in facilities for Allegiant Air, Breeze Airways, Cayman Airways, Frontier Airlines, Sun Country Airlines and Viva. After clearing security in Terminal 1, passengers for all airlines other than JetBlue and Southwest board a shuttle bus to the West Gates of the Tom Bradley International Terminal, where the flights operate. Terminal 1 was built in 1984 for Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA). The terminal was last extensively renovated in 2018, providing updates to the security screening area, terminal areas and baggage handling. The terminal was also expanded in 2021 to fill in the area between terminals 1 and 2, adding a post-security bridge between the terminals, and a bus gate to take passengers to boarding gates in the Tom Bradley International Terminal; this section of the terminal will provide a connection to SkyLink when it opens. Former tenants of the terminal include Air California, Air Hawaii, AirTran Airways, America West Airlines, Braniff, Lynx Air, Morris Air, Pacific Southwest Airlines, Piedmont Airlines, StatesWest Airlines, TranStar Airlines, and US Airways.
Terminal 2
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