Hollywood Burbank Airport celebrates new terminal, completing $1.3 billion project

Hollywood Burbank Airport’s new replacement terminal opened to passengers Tuesday, completing a $1.3 billion project that has been 10 years in the making. All departing and arriving flights will operate out of the new 14-gate, 355,000-square-foot terminal that replaces the existing terminal at the nearly 100-year-old airport.

The 355,000-square-foot facility replaces the existing 232,000-square-foot complex, whose original buildings opened in 1930.

On Tuesday morning, the terminal’s first departing flights met the rising sun over the San Gabriel Mountains as the terminal became fully open to the public. Families eagerly awaited their loved ones in the airport’s waiting area as Southwest Flight 189 arrived from Las Vegas, marking the terminal’s first arriving flight.

Exhausted passengers, donned in hoodies with travel pillows wrapped around their necks, were surprised to be met by cheers from airport staff members to mark the occasion.

An Alaska Airlines flight, the first to depart from the new terminal, took off around 7 a.m., headed for Santa Rosa.

“This project is a testament to how we can work together to transform our local infrastructure, create more jobs, strengthen our transportation system and boost our local economies,” said U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. “Over 6 million people travel in and out of this airport every year, and I look forward to seeing the positive impact that this project will leave on communities and for travelers, and a local economic boost that we will see as a result of this reopening and for decades to come.”

In 2016, Burbank voters approved Measure B to allow the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority to construct the new terminal. The project includes a new passenger terminal located further from runways, a new parking garage and airline support facility, a new ticketing lobby, baggage screening system, an updated TSA checkpoint and a new baggage claim area.

The airport serves as a popular alternative to sprawling LAX, which can serve up to 78.5 million passengers in one year, according to Los Angeles World Airports.

The new terminal, located on the opposite side of the airfield from the existing terminals, will retain the airport’s 14 gates while offering expanded security screening areas, additional passenger amenities and a new parking structure, according to airport officials.

Travelers will also encounter changes to airport access, with the main entrance moving to Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way from its longtime location off Thornton Avenue.

Valet service will move to the new terminal, and Lot E will close permanently. Rideshare passengers will use a new pickup lot near the terminal, while rental-car customers will take shuttles to the existing consolidated rental-car facility across Hollywood Way, officials said.

The Burbank Airport-North Metrolink station will be connected to the new terminal by a pedestrian path and on-demand shuttle.

Airport officials have emphasized that the project is a terminal replacement rather than a capacity expansion, with the number of gates remaining unchanged despite the larger building.

Another change is a guardrail separating passengers from the outgoing and incoming flights throughout the entire walkway on the terminal.

“We heard from the community during the design process,” said executive director John Hatanaka. “One of the most stated desires was to maintain the convenience of the legacy terminal and the ground-loading of the aircraft. In addition to achieving these, the goal of the design was to provide a positive environment, a human touch you might say, to bring the warmth to the passengers, the customers.”

The new terminal increases the space from the airport gates to the runways, improving the airport’s safety levels and bringing it into federal compliance, said Tyron Hampton, a Pasadena City Councilmember and president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. Hampton added that he was most excited to continue bringing a high level of customer service to the guests of the airport while now serving a newly renovated facility.

“Hopefully, when you walked in this morning, some of the greeters greeted you, and the people that were helping you walk across the street, said ‘Hello, good morning.’ That was always customary of the Burbank Airport,” Hampton said. “Even before it was called the Burbank Airport, everybody said, ‘With the new name, we’re going to start acting Hollywood, right?’ … Well no, we’re not acting Hollywood.”

The new terminal features expanded Transportation Security Administration screening areas, additional charging ports and kiosks and a baggage claim area with three carousels in a single indoor hall.

Passengers will continue to board and deplane aircraft outdoors rather than through covered jet bridges, maintaining one of the airport’s longtime operating practices.

The terminal also meets current seismic and accessibility standards and operates entirely on electricity, according to airport officials.

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, a joint powers agency created by the three cities in 1977, owns and operates the airport.

According to the authority, no state, county or local funds from Burbank, Glendale or Pasadena were used for the project. Funding sources include airport revenue bonds, federal grants, passenger facility charges and authority funds.

As visitors approach the entrance, they are met with two towering sculptures made out of stainless steel rods called “The Two Electras.” The sculptures pay homage to Lockheed Aircraft Company’s Electra 10E Special, which was built at the Hollywood Burbank Airport in 1936 and flown by Amelia Earhart on her historic around-the-world flight attempt in 1937.

Cliff Garten, who made the sculptures, said it took two years to make them and that each rod was hand-bent and inspired by the early aircraft designed at the Burbank Airport. As the sun sets, the sculptures are transformed by the reflection of the sun, illuminating the propeller shapes with complimentary colors.

“They have a place here because they talk about the history of the Burbank Airport and its design of a lot of aircraft,” he said. “My work is site specific, and so it’s always inspired by the history or activities of the site itself. They’re also very in tune with the architecture of the large canopy that unites this whole airport.”

As passengers made their way through security, parents took breaks from managing their children to take in the new terminal.

Robin Johnson, who travels twice a year from Texas to visit her son in Reseda, said she uses the Hollywood Burbank Airport out of convenience, and that her son would have to take an entire day off work to drop her at LAX. Other than the inconvenience of some TSA workers having to wear sunglasses and shield their eyes from the rising sun, she said the new terminal maintained its efficiency and convenience.

“Getting through check-in and everything was smooth, and dropping off was a little smoother than the old one because it was such a tiny place,” she said. “It’s easy to maneuver and you can easily tell where the gates are.”

David Leight, who was traveling from Maryland to Burbank to visit family, echoed that he chose the airport out of convenience and to avoid the hubbub of LAX.

Hampton said that he hopes the new terminal will convince people to fly from Hollywood Burbank even if it means a slightly longer travel day.

“It takes me an hour and 20 minutes to get to LAX,” Hampton said. “My ultimate goal is to get people to come here and see the convenience of it. But beyond the convenience of it, when they see how people are treating them here, they’re going to say, okay, it may be worth a 30-minute layover somewhere, or maybe an hour layover somewhere, just to be treated like a human being when you walk into the airport.”

Hollywood Burbank Airport came in fifth among medium-sized airports, rising four spots from 2025, according to an annual survey by JD Power of North America released earlier this month. Ontario International Airport, meanwhile, remained No. 2 in the medium category.

LAX, amid a mammoth construction boom in preparation for the 2028 Olympics, ranked 14th among mega-sized airports, handling 33 million or more passengers per year. That’s an improvement of one spot over last year.

In Orange County, though, John Wayne Airport dropped 10 slots in the large airport rankings — the biggest tumble of all. (Long Beach and Van Nuys airports do not qualify for the rankings, which rate 24 larger airports in North America.)

LAX is racing to the finish line to complete an ambitious slate of improvements before the Olympics’ third engagement in L.A. in 2028.

In 2018, Los Angeles officials planned an wide array of 28 bus and rail projects to transform public transit. Some were scrapped but others moved forward, including the extension of a subway line to connect Downtown with UCLA, the planned home of the Olympic Village, and the much ballyhooed Skylink system, formerly known as the Automated People Mover.

Overall, the program has grown into $30 billion in capital improvements to sweepingly improve access at LAX before 2028’s Olympic and Paralympic torches are lit. Improvements under way also include a new rental car center, upgrades to roadways and curbs and major improvements at terminals, including the Tom Bradley Terminal modernization.

Skylink, LAX’s long-awaited system to move travelers around terminals and transit stops at the sprawling complex, started running without passengers in April. It was initially targeted to be operational before fans arrived for the World Cup games at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium in June and July, but is still not welcoming travelers on board.

Construction on the people mover began in 2019 with an original target debut of 2023. The project has since been delayed multiple times due to technical challenges and disputes between Los Angeles World Airports and the contractor, LAX Integrated Express Solutions. It is now more than 99% complete, according to officials.

Those disputes have resulted in significant financial claims and contributed to delays in testing timelines. Officials said they remain hopeful outstanding issues can be resolved without further postponements.

Airport officials said the 2.25-mile electric train will operate on a full schedule until it opens for real. The trains will circulate through the airport’s central terminal area, linking terminals with parking facilities and pick-up and drop-off zones. The rail line’s six stations will be open to ticketed passengers, their guests and airport employees for free.

City News Service contributed to this report