Burbank Airport Unveils Terminal Plan

Burbank Airport administrators have made public 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.

The FAA has been pressuring them to replace the terminal, built more than 50 years ago, saying it is too close to the runways to meet modern safety standards. 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.

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

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

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, compared to 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, compared to the present 14.