The development, which was constructed from June to December of last year, will help airport officials efficiently manage emergencies. Employees from the airport's airside and landside divisions, airport police and members of governmental agencies will staff the center.

“The Airport Response Coordination Center is one more major step towards a coordination and emergency response goal that demands constant renewal and energy,” Michael Lawson, president of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, said in a statement. “This new facility allows us to bring together both people and technology within a single space that’s governed by a protocol that vastly increases our situational awareness and, equally important, our ability to respond quickly and effectively.”   

A grant from the state of California and a portion of the airport’s general operating revenues funded the project.

The new center opens at a time when LAX has started digging out of the hit it took during the recession. The airport experienced a 15.8 percent increase in cargo tonnage in 2010 year-over-year from 2009. Air mail tonnage for 2010 totaled 74,034, and freight tonnage rose to 1.85 million tonnes.

Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, which owns LAX, attributed the rise in tonnage to the improvement in the economy. New routes and the addition of new airlines also helped fuel the growth.