Reese Witherspoon wins campaign for celebrity airport terminal

Stars including Reese Witherspoon and Michael J. Fox have won a campaign to build a secluded celebrity terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Officials at the Board of Airport Commissioners voted unanimously in favour of creating the exclusive facility to help elite passengers maintain their privacy and reduce overcrowding in the public terminals.

The Los Angeles Suite will be built in a converted cargo office, where stars willing to pay up to $1,800 per trip can arrive in a secluded car park, go through a private security screening and be driven straight onto the airfield to board flights.

The proposal received backing from Witherspoon, who expressed her support for the scheme in a letter to Deborah Ale Flint, director of LAX operator Los Angeles World Airports, writing, "I fully support the option of a VIP suite for first-class passengers at LAX."

Fox also wrote a letter noting the chaos celebrity arrivals can cause, adding, "I know this causes congestion and stress for all passengers who happen to be around.''

Secluded lounges are already used at London's Heathrow hub, and airports in cities including Paris, France, Frankfurt in Germany and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. If the lounge in Los Angeles is a success, the scheme could be rolled out to other city airports including John F. Kennedy in New York.