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Donald Trump dumps on LAX, but L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti defends airport upgrades

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The sentence structure was a mess, but it was clear during Monday’s presidential debate that when Republican nominee Donald Trump mentioned Los Angeles International Airport, he was not paying the facility a compliment.

“You land at LaGuardia, you land at Kennedy, you land at LAX, you land at Newark, and you come in from Dubai and Qatar and you see these incredible — you come in from China, you see these incredible airports, and you land — we’ve become a third-world country.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti shot back this week, saying LAX is undergoing billions of dollars in upgrades.

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In fact, Garcetti took part at a ceremony Thursday to open a $148-million facility that connects the Tom Bradley International Terminal to the terminals on the south side of the airport.

“If Donald Trump wasn’t jetting around the world on a private plane — or had ever walked through our terminals like the tens of millions who fly in and out of our airport every year — he might know about the largest public works program in the history of Los Angeles: the $14 billion we are spending to modernize LAX by connecting it to rail, building a brand new rental car facility and renovating eight out of the airport’s nine terminals,” the mayor said.

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“The comment is just another example of Donald Trump throwing around wild insults without regard for facts.”

Garcetti already has endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter.

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