How Colas Is Extending Its LAX Legacy With Taxiway Contract
Airports rank among the most demanding environments in which to build.
Runways and taxiways must be rebuilt without ever fully closing the doors on passenger and cargo traffic, and schedules are frequently locked to fixed external deadlines rather than internal targets.
Colas, through its US subsidiary Sully-Miller, has built its reputation on operating precisely within these constraints. Its latest award requires it to do the same at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
A landmark award at LAX
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the authority that operates LAX, has awarded Sully-Miller a €70m (US$81m) contract.
It covers the complete reconstruction of the westernmost mile of Taxiway A and part of Taxiway F.
LAX ranks as the seventh-busiest airport in the world and serves as the principal international gateway to Southern California.
Taxiway A is used primarily by cargo aircraft and underpins the airport's standing as one of the busiest freight hubs in the country.
Work on Taxiway A reconstruction is scheduled for 2027, while the Taxiway F element is due to begin in early 2028.
Both phases are set for completion ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, adding a fixed external deadline to an already technically demanding brief.
The award builds on a relationship between LAWA and Sully-Miller that now spans nearly a decade and several major taxiway and terminal-area contracts.
"Our airport expertise in the United States is reflected in the longstanding relationship we have built with Los Angeles World Airports,” says John Harrington, President and CEO of Colas USA. “Our experienced teams understand the specific constraints of this environment and the importance of maintaining operational continuity for our client. I am delighted that we are continuing this collaboration through new projects."
Delivering under live-airfield constraints
Taxiway F sits between two active runways, meaning reconstruction must proceed while air traffic operations continue uninterrupted.
Combined with the Olympic-driven deadline, the project brings together several operational pressures. Key constraints on the programme include:
- rebuilding Taxiway F between two active runways without disrupting air traffic movements
- meeting a fixed completion deadline ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games
- sustaining Taxiway A's cargo-handling role throughout the reconstruction period
- sequencing two separate taxiway packages across 2027 and 2028 without conflict
- running compressed shifts, with crews on site six days a week for up to twenty hours a day
Meeting these demands requires a workforce and supply chain already calibrated to airport operating rules, security clearances and phased handover protocols, capabilities Sully-Miller has refined across repeated engagements with LAWA.
A long-standing client relationship
The Taxiway A and F contract is the eighth project Sully-Miller has delivered for LAWA over the past seven years.
It sits alongside two other active LAX awards: the Taxiway C Easterly Extension project, worth €31m (US$36m), and the MATOC South Terminals Taxiway Reconstruction project, worth €36m (US$42m).
- LAX recorded approximately 580,000 aircraft movements in 2025
- Taxiway A handles more than 2.4 million metric tonnes of freight each year
- Sully-Miller's LAWA contracts since 2019 total more than €350m (US$406m)
- Colas generated consolidated revenue of €16bn (US$18.6bn) in 2025, 59% of it outside France
- The Colas Group employs 62,000 people across roughly 2,000 operating units in some fifty countries
"This contract reflects the confidence Los Angeles World Airports places in our teams and their expertise. It also confirms Colas' ability to deliver complex airport projects in environments where safety, operational continuity and meeting deadlines are essential," says Pierre Vanstoflegatte, Chief Executive Officer of the Colas Group.
Colas' key partners:
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
LAX is the principal international gateway to Southern California and the seventh-busiest airport in the world, recording approximately 580,000 aircraft movements in 2025. Operated by Los Angeles World Airports, it ranks as the fifth-largest US airport by cargo volume, with Taxiway A alone handling more than 2.4 million metric tons of freight annually.
Bouygues is the French conglomerate that owns Colas, alongside interests in construction, media and telecoms. As parent company, Bouygues provides Colas with the financial scale and industrial backing to pursue large, multi-year infrastructure programmes internationally, including complex airport contracts such as the LAX taxiway works.
Groupe ADP
Groupe ADP operates Paris' major airports, including Paris-Orly and Paris-Charles de Gaulle, where Colas has carried out runway renovation works. The relationship demonstrates Colas' airport expertise beyond the US, applying similar live-airfield construction methods used at LAX to some of Europe's busiest aviation hubs.
