[Quixote]

Concourse 0, an extension of Terminal 1, will produce 9 net new gates.

The MSC South will yield 8 new gates.

The proposed Terminal 9 would add another 12-18 gates.

Not counting bus/remote gates, this should bring the gate total to about 180 (low end). For comparison, ATL has a total of 192 gates and is an order of magnitude busier than LAX in terms of annual passenger traffic. I think that should be more than enough capacity to meet demand.

Once this is realized, I think we can start thinking about demolishing existing terminals, starting with 7/8.

The problem with LAX, and indeed LA in general, is that there seems to be a lack of a long-term vision. Considering we don’t have a true secondary airport (Ontario could be it once there’s HSR and improved Metrolink service, but it’d still be more of a Gatwick than a Newark), thinking about how to remake LAX into an airport of the 21st century and one that serves such a prominent city would seem like a sensible thing to do.

It’d be great if we could demolish the entire thing and start from scratch. The next best, and realistic, option is to rebuild it little by little. That includes a willingness to make drastic changes, such as removing all parking garages in the CTA to an off-site location and replacing them with additional terminal space. Or annexing land north of Century and east of Aviation.