Absolutely....7R/25L is actually longer than the other parallel on the southside at 11,096 feet. (the inner south runway 7L/25R is 12,091 feet). Your concern is notable however. It's more based on procedure at airports with two sets of parallels on each side of the airport. Normal ops include allowing aircraft to depart on the inner parallels while landing (usually) on the outer parallels allowing greater separation on approach. So for whatever reason..."they" decided to depart from 25L. It could also be to expedite the departure of traffic behing the KAL 747, so they moved it on over to the other side to make room, amongst a couple more operational considerations. Many a UA 747 and 747s off the Bradley Terminal use the inner parallel runway of the south complex of LAX 7L/25R. Actually, the north runway complex has the shortest of the runway complexes at LAX. 6L/24R is 8925 feet. 6R/24L, where many a 747 departs, is 10,285 feet. So to answer your Q...yep...they can handle 747s. Walter DCA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Panitz" <mpanitz@juno.com> To: <AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> > Today I was passing (on Avation Blvd)near lax) > where you go right past the south runways at > Lax. I saw a KAL 747 waiting for its turn to take > off on the south runway, I was surprise to see a 747 > on that side cause dont they usually use the north runways at > Lax for 747s? this was around 11:30am Sunday Morning >