Hearing Scheduled : Burbank Airport Reveals Blueprint for Expansion

Burbank Airport administrators have made public the plans for a new terminal capable of handling almost twice as many flights and more than twice as many passengers as the airport now serves.

The plans are outlined in the draft version of an environmental impact report released by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

The report will be the subject of a public hearing at 6 p.m. Nov. 20, at Luther Burbank Junior High School in Burbank.

Airport administrators have been under conflicting pressures from the Federal Aviation Administration and homeowners in the East San Fernando Valley.

FAA Pressure

The FAA has been pressuring them to replace the terminal, built more than 50 years ago, saying that it is too close to the runways to meet modern safety standards. The homeowners’ groups, who complain about aircraft noise, want the airport cut back or closed, not expanded.

The terminal described in the report is basically the same as that in a preliminary design made public in June, 1987.

That terminal is designed to handle 92,270 takeoffs and landings a year--contrasted with last year’s 50,827--and 7.3-million passengers annually, contrasted with last year’s 3 million.

An entrance on Hollywood Way, near the existing airport entrance, would lead to a parking garage and the first part of an unusual two-location terminal.

Ticketing Building

Between Hollywood Way and the east-west runway would be a 123,000-square-foot passenger ticketing building.

North of the runway would be a 162,000-square-foot building where passengers would board or leave aircraft. The two would be connected by a 2,200-foot “people mover” in a tunnel beneath the runway.

The 285,000 square feet in the two structures would more than double the existing 130,000 square feet.

The parking structure would hold 4,000 cars, contrasted with 3,200 spaces that will be available when modifications now being made are completed next month.

The terminal would have boarding gates for 18 aircraft, contrasted with the present 14.