Los Angeles airport considers a private lounge for the rich and famous for $1800 a visit

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This was published 8 years ago

Los Angeles airport considers a private lounge for the rich and famous for $1800 a visit

By Dan Weikel
Updated
Los Angeles Airport, the USA's second busiest airport.

Los Angeles Airport, the USA's second busiest airport.Credit: iStock

The risk of running a gauntlet of paparazzi, gawkers and autograph-seekers may get smaller for Southern California's glitterati if an upscale private lounge is approved Thursday for a remote part of Los Angeles International Airport.

The Board of Airport Commissioners is set to consider building the exclusive facility, which would cater to wealthy Hollywood celebrities, sports figures, diplomats and anyone else seeking privacy while waiting for their flights.

If approved, the lounge would be located in a converted cargo facility next to the airport's southernmost runway. The proposed project includes a 4000-square-metre building and a 1285-square-metre parking lot.

For fees as high as $US1800 ($A2500) per trip, travellers would be able to drive into the secure parking area and avoid the main terminal, which can be crowded with people and jammed with traffic.

Once inside, they could relax in the lounge's private suites until their boarding times, when shuttles would take them to their passenger gates in the central terminal area.

Airport officials say Gavin de Becker and Associates, an L.A.-based security company with an elite clientele, would be the lessee and operator of the lounge.

The company would be responsible for investing at least $3 million to renovate the property and manage the lounge during the 10-year lease.

It also must make all necessary arrangements and secure operating permits from the federal Transportation Security Administration as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Officials estimate that Los Angeles World Airports, the operator of Los Angeles International Airport, would earn about $3.75 million in the first year and $34 million during the entire lease period.

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The exclusive lounge is the latest development in a long list of initiatives by airlines and the city's airport department to attract well-heeled business executives and celebrities to Los Angeles International, the nation's second-busiest airport.

Some of the amenities have included exclusive lounges in several domestic terminals, airline meals cooked by celebrity chefs, chauffeur-driven Cadillacs and VIP entrances and passageways.

Los Angeles Times

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