Sentence:  Fortunately, most of these were former French colonies, and through a combination of quiet diplomacy and well-placed French nationals in the various air-traffic-control centers, the 300-mile-long stream of American aircraft flew the width of Africa as uneventfully as a red-eye flight from <WSD>LAX</WSD> to JFK. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  IATA airport code for (Los Angeles International Airport).