Delivering Structural Steel for a Large-Scale GSE and Hangar Complex

LAX United Airlines East GSE Building is a massive expansion underway at Los Angeles International Airport which requires all major airline carriers to relocate their support functions. To meet this requirement, SME Steel is joining the entire design and construction team to provide United Airlines with relocation, design, and construction services for its new line maintenance hangar and ground services equipment (GSE) complex. This multi-faceted project will consolidate United’s current east and west campuses into a single, state-of-the-art complex at its current eastern location.

Once completed, United will have a flexible campus containing a line maintenance hangar which can accommodate multiple aircraft ranging from A319 narrow body to B777/B787 wide body aircraft. The GSE building and support shops will enable United’s crews to perform any level of needed maintenance on every type of ground service equipment utilized by the airline, up to and including the largest size of tugs, tractors, and buses.

The complexity of the project requires multiple stages to complete. Per the airport’s master plan, United must entirely vacate its west campus location. To complete the new complex, the design team must first retrofit the west campus hangar bay, which will serve as an interim location for the east campus GSE. Once United’s east-side personnel are moved into this temporary facility, then two existing buildings will be demolished on the east campus to make a space for the new buildings. This step also requires relocation of an historic World War II-era Quonset hut. The final phase will be construction of the new maintenance hangar and GSE complex followed by the relocation of United’s personnel into the new buildings.

To meet the additional challenges of this large-scale project, SME Steel is provid-ing on-site structural steel construction administration throughout.

780 tons of steel

United Airlines

The Herrick Corporation

FSB