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Los Angeles is planning a downtown air taxi hub ahead of the 2028 Olympics. Aug 24, 2026 Los Angeles could soon have a new way to beat some of its notorious traffic. AEG and Archer Aviation announced Monday, Aug. 24, plans to develop a new electric air taxi vertiport at L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles. If completed, the project would become the first announced vertiport in downtown Los Angeles and add a major entertainment destination to Archer's planned air taxi network. The announcement comes less than two years before Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, when transportation will be a major concern for visitors moving between venues across the region. L.A. LIVE could become a launch point for air taxis. The planned vertiport would be located at L.A. LIVE, the four million square foot sports and entertainment district next to Crypto.com Arena. The area includes major entertainment and hospitality destinations such as Peacock Theater, The Novo and the GRAMMY Museum. It also sits next to the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena, making the location particularly attractive for fans attending concerts, sporting events and other major gatherings. Under the agreement, Archer would become the exclusive air taxi provider for L.A. LIVE. The companies say the planned location would allow fans, artists and visitors to travel to and from the district aboard Archer's Midnight electric aircraft. Archer wants to cut long L.A. Trips down to minutes. Archer's larger Los Angeles plan is built around short electric flights connecting major destinations around Southern California. The company says its planned network could eventually allow passengers to travel across Los Angeles in roughly 10 to 20 minutes. That could offer a dramatic alternative to ground trips that can take an hour or more when traffic is heavy. The planned network has included locations such as SoFi Stadium, the University of Southern California and Hollywood Burbank Airport. Archer also plans to use Hawthorne Airport as a central operational hub. The concept is straightforward. Instead of sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the 405 or another crowded L.A. freeway, passengers would take off vertically, fly above the city and land at another nearby vertiport. The Midnight aircraft is designed for urban travel. Archer's Midnight is a piloted electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, commonly referred to as an eVTOL. The aircraft is designed for short urban trips rather than traditional airline routes. Archer says Midnight can reach speeds of up to 150 mph and is intended to produce zero operating emissions during flight. The aircraft takes off and lands vertically, allowing it to operate from specially designed vertiports rather than requiring a conventional airport runway. That feature is especially important in Los Angeles, where finding space for traditional aviation infrastructure in dense urban areas can be difficult. The 2028 Olympics are a major part of the plan. The timing of the L.A. LIVE announcement is no coincidence. Archer is the official air taxi provider of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Team USA. Its planned Los Angeles network is expected to connect several locations that will be important during the Games. Downtown Los Angeles is expected to play an important role during the Olympics and Paralympics, making L.A. LIVE a potentially valuable location for the company's future network. The new vertiport could eventually give visitors another transportation option while the city deals with the enormous crowds expected for the Games. The project is still in development. For anyone hoping to book an air taxi ride through downtown Los Angeles right away, there is still a wait. AEG and Archer have completed an initial feasibility study covering land use, airspace, electrical power availability and potential community impacts. The companies said the next phase is focused on the operational approach and passenger experience. The project therefore remains a development plan rather than an operating transportation service. The companies have not announced a public launch date for the L.A. LIVE vertiport. Los Angeles could become a showcase for electric flight. The planned L.A. LIVE location gives Archer something bigger than another landing site. It puts the company's electric aircraft directly in the middle of one of America's best known sports and entertainment districts. That could make the location a high profile showcase for electric air travel as Los Angeles prepares for a string of major events. The city is already preparing for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl LXI in 2027 and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archer has been positioning its planned air taxi network around those events and the long term transportation needs of Southern California. Archer aircraft will be displayed at L.A. LIVE. To mark Monday's announcement, Archer planned to display its Midnight aircraft at L.A. LIVE on Aug. 24 and Aug. 25. The aircraft is also being shown with a special Team USA livery as Archer promotes its role ahead of the LA28 Games. For Los Angeles residents, the display offers a glimpse at what could become a familiar sight around the city if the company's air taxi plans move forward. A new way to think about getting around L.A. Los Angeles has long been associated with freeways, traffic jams and long commutes. Electric air taxis could eventually add an entirely different layer to the city's transportation system. The planned L.A. LIVE vertiport is still a project in development, but its location shows how companies are looking beyond traditional airports as they prepare for the next generation of urban transportation. If Archer's broader network comes together as planned, getting across Los Angeles for a major game, concert or event could eventually mean taking to the skies instead of spending another hour stuck on the freeway.

Pasadena's East West Bank becomes first business banking partner for AEG's ticketing platform. The deal links the Los Robles Avenue-headquartered bank with AXS, the company behind Coachella and the LA28 Olympics. Published on Tuesday, June 2, 2026 | 6:46 am East West Bank now has a line into every Coachella ticket sold. The Pasadena-headquartered financial institution with total assets of $82.9 billion as of March 31, has been named the first official business banking partner for AXS in North America, the companies announced June 1 in a joint press release. AXS, owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group, is the ticketing platform that partners with over 1,600 of the most recognized brands in sports and entertainment, including the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, according to the company. The partnership, brought together by AEG Global Partnerships, will have East West Bank supporting AXS's banking and financial operations as the ticketing company scales globally. In return, the two companies will collaborate on strategic marketing and media initiatives across AXS channels to build brand awareness and engagement, the press release said. Financial terms were not disclosed. As AXS's first official business banking partner in North America, East West Bank will play an important role in supporting the company's continued growth while expanding its own reach within the live entertainment, sports, and events landscape, according to the press release. "As AXS continues to grow globally, having the right financial partner in place is critical," said Jason Boxer, chief financial officer of AXS. "East West Bank brings deep expertise supporting high-growth businesses, and we are pleased to work together as we continue to expand." The partnership adds to East West Bank's growing presence in the entertainment space. The bank launched the East West Bank Gold Music Lab in March 2026 in partnership with Gold House to support independent Asian Pacific musicians. Its parent company, East West Bancorp (Nasdaq: EWBC), reported record first-quarter 2026 results in April, with net income of $358 million and total assets of $82.9 billion as of March 31. The bank has been named America's No. 1 best-performing large bank by the trade publication Bank Director for three consecutive years, according to a company press release. East West Bank operates over 110 locations in the United States and Asia, according to the company, and describes itself as the largest independent bank headquartered in Southern California. "At East West Bank, we believe that entertainment and sports do more than entertain," said Robert Lo, executive vice president and head of commercial real estate banking at East West Bank. "They bring people together and create meaningful connections across cultures and communities." "We're proud to partner with AXS because we share a common belief in the power of live experiences to build bridges, spark joy, and unite people around moments that matter," Lo said in the press release. "This partnership reflects our commitment to supporting the stories, teams, and events that connect us all." AXS was founded in 2011 and became a wholly owned AEG subsidiary in 2019. The platform provides ticketing services across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific and recently appointed Boxer as CFO in February 2026 as part of a broader executive expansion. Erin Zinser, senior vice president of AXS sponsorship sales and activation at AEG Global Partnerships, said in the press release that she was proud to help bring the partnership together. "We're proud to help bring this partnership together and excited to see both brands embark on this relationship as they continue evolving how they engage and support their customers," Zinser said. East West Bank's corporate headquarters occupies the building at 135 North Los Robles Avenue. The institution was founded in 1973 in Los Angeles to serve the Chinese American community. Now the bank's name will appear across the digital channels of a platform that puts tickets in the hands of millions of fans. For a Pasadena institution, the reach just got wider. Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free. Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.

Entertainment website 'tester' can proceed with tracking suit. By Allison Grande ( May 13, 2026, 10:30 PM EDT) - A California federal judge has refused to toss a proposed class action accusing Anschutz Entertainment Group of illegally using tracking tools that transmitted website visitors' data to third parties, finding that two of the plaintiff's three wiretap and privacy claims could move forward and that her status as a website "tester" did not preclude her from pressing the suit... Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as * Daily newsletters * Expert analysis * Mobile app * Advanced search * Judge information * Real-time alerts * 450K+ searchable archived articles Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. Attached documents. Related sections. Case information. Case title. Case number. Court. Nature of suit. Judge. Date filed. Law firms. Companies. Government agencies. Judge analytics. powered by Lex Machina(R) There's been a notable vibe shift around artificial intelligence in the legal industry as firms and corporate legal departments push for widespread adoption of AI tools. Here's what the latest Law360 Pulse survey found.