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LAX Getting Special Terminal So Rich & Famous Can Avoid Paparazzi (And Commoners)
Sad Kanye West swarmed by paparazzi at LAX (Photo courtesy of Icono, PacificCoastNews)
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The old days where stars like Kanye West and Taylor Swift would get swarmed by paparazzi at LAX will soon be over. The bustling international airport just got the green-light to build a new terminal for the rich and famous.LAX's Board of Airport Commissioners unanimously approved on Thursday the airport's plan to redevelop a cargo hangar located at 6851 West Imperial Highway into a terminal for use by just celebrities, sports stars and diplomats, according to The Guardian. The "Los Angeles Suite" would be the first terminal in the nation to be made just for stars. The temporary terminal should be up and running in about six months until the suite is completely built out. It would occupy a 43,750-square-foot building and have a 13,840-square-foot parking lot, according to the L.A. Times.
The way it works is that guests would pay from $1,500 to $1,800 per trip to use the terminal. They would get to avoid paparazzi and the main terminals that us commoners use, and get to drive or be dropped off in a secure parking lot. While the rest of us have to walk 2,200 steps from the parking lot to the gate, they would only have to take 20 steps. Instead of dealing with Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection officers, there will be private security, according to Reuters. The rich and famous can bide their time until their flight is about to take off by chilling in the ritzy private suites, and then getting picked up by a shuttle to take them directly to their passenger gates.
Deborah Ale Flint, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, said in the board meeting that this would also help ease traffic that builds up from paparazzi trying to snap photos of celebrities.
L.A.-based security firm, Gavin de Becker and Associates, will be in charge of building and operating the suite, and even investing $3 million into the project that will have a 10-year-lease.
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This Los Angeles Suite could be a big moneymaker, too. It's projected that the company that operates LAX, Los Angeles World Airports, would make $3.75 million in the first year, and $35 million throughout the 10-year lease.
If all goes well, Debecker told the Guardian that he would start introducing this kind of terminal to other airports in other cities like New York's JFK and possibly San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and Dallas. There are already these celebrity-only terminals in other major cities in other countries, from Amsterdam to Dubai and London.
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