Summary
Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the United States and covers a huge area, with a large population and lots of inbound tourism and business travel.
Most passengers arrive in the city at Los Angeles International Airport – often known as LAX – which handles the majority of airline traffic and movements, and is a major draw for aviation enthusiasts.
However, the size of Los Angeles means it is covered by a number of other airports, each of which are interesting in their own right for spotters.
Here are some alternative airports for plane spotting in the Los Angeles area:
Van Nuys
Van Nuys spotting area
Despite having no airline movements, Van Nuys is actually one of the busiest airports in the United States.
This airport, located to the north of the city in the San Fernando Valley, is a major hub for biz jet and general aviation movements. It’s so busy, in fact, that there are on average some 630 aircraft movements per day.
Thankfully there is an official spotting location off Waterman Drive which is a great spot for watching and photographing movements on the two parallel runways
Hollywood Burbank Airport
Just a few miles east of Van Nuys is Hollywood Burbank Airport – a constricted airport with two runways which handles low-cost movements by Avelo, Frontier, Spirit and Southwest Airlines, plus other scheduled services by JSX, American, Delta, United and Alaska Airlines.
There are also nightly cargo movements, and plenty of biz jets and props.
The airport is quite constricted, with aircraft passing low over neighbouring streets. Spotting at Burbank is best from the top floor of the car park outside the terminal, from where all movements can be seen. A drive around the perimeter is also useful for picking off parked aircraft.
Ontario International
Quintin Soloviev, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Ontario Airport is one of the main Los Angeles airports, and handles over 6 million passengers per year, but is quite restricted on growth by its surroundings. Although it has two parallel runways, they are situated very close together.
There are two passenger terminals, with Southwest Airlines being the most prominent airline although other major US carriers all have a presence. UPS also has a strong cargo presence at the airport.
Spotting at Ontario Airport is more difficult as there are no obvious locations. However, the best views can be had on the southern perimeter near the UPS ramp, were views of aircraft approaching the runways can be had from Haven Ave.
San Bernardino Airport
San Bernardino is a smaller airport in the north east corner of Los Angeles. It has one runway and a passenger terminal, with regular scheduled services from Breeze Airways, plus regular cargo services from Amazon, ABX, FedEx and UPS Airlines. It is primarily a general aviation airport, although spotters will be interested in the scrapping and storage activity that goes on.
A number of airliners have ended their days here (or are currently stored awaiting scrapping), including Boeing 727s, 737s, 747s, 777s and McDonnell Douglas MD-11s. There are also some Boeing 727s used by the fire training college, and one in long-term storage, all on the northern perimeter of the airport. Exploring the roads near the terminal is the best way to see aircraft parked on the various ramps, whilst 3rd St has some roads leading off as it passes the northern perimeter of the airport.
Long Beach Airport
Photo (c) Don Barrett
Formerly the airport at which McDonnell Douglas constructed many of its great airliners, and still a production and maintenance base for C-17 military transports. Long Beach, situated at the south of the Los Angeles area, is a hub for Southwest Airlines and has some other flights by Delta and Hawaiian Airlines. UPS Airlines fly in freighters.
The terminal is on the eastern side, with a Gulfstream facility just to its south that usually has a selection of biz jets parked outside. Walking to either side of the entrance to the passenger terminal will yield views of aircraft parked at some of the gates. You can also spot from the restaurant inside.
There’s a light aircraft parking area north of the terminal. FBOs, training schools and more general aviation parking are on the western side of the airport, along with the huge Boeing hangars.
A large car park is situated outside the DeVry University building fronts onto the end of runway 30 and one of its taxiways. This is a great spot for aircraft landing or departing on runway 30. The car park is off Kilroy Airport Way. Staff are used to spotters here.
Title image: Sean Davis
