Keeping your LAX ground transportation permit

For a Los Angeles operator, losing the right to pick up at LAX is a bigger revenue event than most CPUC problems. Los Angeles World Airports permits charter-party carriers separately from the Commission, on its own calendar, with its own insurance filing, and it suspends the permit for paperwork the same way the CPUC does.

The annual re-decal

• Every TCP operator is assigned a renewal month and receives an email from LAWA Ground Transportation on a posted schedule. The renewal is completed online only.
• You update your documents, confirm the vehicle list, and pay the Annual Administrative Fee — the base fee is $150 per company. Late fees apply if the application is not completed within the assigned month.
• Once staff approve the online application you receive an email to review the documents and pay; the new decals follow.

What LAWA checks that the CPUC does not

1. Insurance filed with LAWA Risk Management. Holding a policy is not enough; your broker must submit proof to the airport. Operators are routinely surprised that a policy the CPUC has on file is not on file at LAX.
2. Every vehicle on the authorized equipment list. The renewal will not process with a vehicle in service that is not listed, and you need workers' compensation on file to list more vehicles than you have owners.
3. Enrollment in the online account (OLA) billing program. It is a condition of operating at LAX; failure to enroll can suspend or terminate the permit.

Adding or removing a vehicle

1. Put it on your CPUC equipment list first. LAWA reads the Commission's list and will not add a vehicle, or mail your annual decals, while any vehicle in your LAX fleet is missing from it.
2. Remove the vehicle it replaces. Return its transponder, send LAWA a photo of the transponder cut in half, or, if you no longer have the vehicle, pay the delete fee ($50 in 2025).
3. Send the new vehicle's registration with the receipt for the add fee ($50 in 2025).
4. Bring the vehicle in for inspection when LAWA says the permit is ready. In 2025 pickup was Tuesday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to noon, at 7301 World Way West, on the east side of the building; confirm before you go.

The vehicle must be present, with the TCP number already applied in 2-inch individual characters on the bumpers, license plates front and rear, and legal window tint, or it will not be permitted. The details are in TCP number display rules.

Track it like a permit, not a decal

Upload your current LAWA permit or approval email on your status page as an LAX (LAWA) ground transportation permit with its expiry date, and we count down to it — 60, 30, 14 and 7 days, then daily. Do the same for any other airport you serve under Other airport permit; SFO, SAN, ONT, BUR, LGB and SJC each run their own program.