Hollywood Burbank Airport celebrated Monday's ribbon-cutting for its nearly $1.3 billion replacement passenger terminal, which opens to travelers Oct. 13. The new 14-gate, 355,000-square-foot building is designed to meet current FAA, earthquake and accessibility standards, though community groups dispute the authority's framing.
# Hollywood Burbank Airport Holds Ribbon-Cutting for $1.3 Billion Terminal
BURBANK, Calif. — Hollywood Burbank Airport marked a milestone Monday with the ribbon-cutting of its nearly $1.3 billion replacement passenger terminal, a project the airport authority says will resolve long-standing safety and accessibility concerns that have persisted for decades.
The ceremony, held Oct. 5, came eight days before the new 14-gate building opens to travelers on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
The airport is owned and operated by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, a joint powers agency created in 1977. Each of the three cities appoints three of the authority's nine commissioners. Pasadena Councilmember Tyron Hampton, who was elected the authority's president on July 20, presided over Monday's event.
The airport has operated since 1930. The current terminal sits farther from the runways in the northeast quadrant of the airfield and is designed to an older set of standards. The new building, by contrast, meets current Federal Aviation Administration standards as well as current earthquake and accessibility requirements.
The authority describes the work as a safety project rather than a capacity expansion. The new terminal covers 355,000 square feet and has the same number of gates as the building it replaces. The authority says it is designed to serve the same size aircraft as the current one.
Burbank voters approved the replacement terminal as Measure B on Nov. 8, 2016, with 70 percent of the vote, after years of disagreement between the city and the authority. That same year, the three cities amended the agreement governing the authority to require a supermajority vote, at least two commissioners from each city, to increase the number of commercial airline gates.
A San Fernando Valley neighborhood group disputes the authority's framing. In an Aug. 23 post, Sherman Oaks & Encino for Quiet Skies wrote that critics and aviation watchdogs note that "gates do not equal capacity," and that community advocates believe the terminal is designed to absorb the traffic demand generated by FAA flight-path changes rolled out in 2016 and 2017.
Ground was broken on Jan. 25, 2024. When the authority approved a guaranteed maximum price for design and construction in May 2024, it put the estimated total project cost at $1,298,700,000. A July 2026 project status report lists a budget and estimated cost at completion of $1.272 billion, targeted funding of $1.299 billion and secured funding of 85 percent.
According to the authority's project FAQ, no state, county or local funds from Burbank, Glendale or Pasadena will be used. The project is funded through airport revenue bonds, federal grants, passenger facility charges and authority funds, with airline rates and fees and revenue from concessionaires, hangar tenants and parking covering the debt. The authority closed on $724.78 million in revenue bonds in May 2024 and anticipated a second bond issue in 2026 to complete the project's funding.
When the terminal opens Oct. 13, the airport's main entrance moves to Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way from its current location off Thornton Avenue. The parking structure and valet service move to the new terminal that day, and Lot E closes permanently. Rental cars stay at the Regional Intermodal Transportation Center, with shuttles to the new terminal.
The Burbank Airport-North Metrolink station will be linked to the new terminal by a pedestrian path and an on-demand shuttle. The authority said the airport is optimistic that the replacement passenger terminal will be conducive to greater transit use.
The authority held nine public design workshops in 2019, with six in Burbank and one each in Pasadena, Glendale and Los Angeles. Commissioners chose the design concept known as "The Icon" in April 2023.
This article was generated with AI assistance.