United opens a new cargo facility at Los Angeles International Airport, the final piece of the company's $300 million investment in upgrading its facilities at LAX and making it one of the company's U.S. hubs. Among the facilities improvements, which the company began in 1997, are: its own Federal Inspection Services (FIS) facility in Terminals 6 and 7; a wider concourse in Terminal 8; a dual taxi alley outside Terminal 8 to reduce ground congestion; a new bag-sorting facility beneath Terminal 8; and a new Red Carpet Club in Terminal 6 and a remodeled Red Carpet Club and International First Class Lounge in Terminal 7. United officially designated LAX as a hub in April 1999, when most of the renovations were completed, but had been operating the airport as a hub since early 1998.