Grant for Airport Probable

Burbank Airport will probably receive $2.8 million from the Federal Aviation Administration to pay for an airplane holding area and soundproofing for a nearby middle school, officials said.

Airport Director Thomas Greer told the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday that the FAA has set aside $2.8 million that was previously requested by the airport and is asking local officials to submit a formal application for the money.

Although the FAA has not yet approved the expenditure, Greer said the chances are good that Burbank Airport will get it.

If the money is approved, officials will use $2 million to build a holding pad at the north end of the airport’s north-south runway, Greer said.

The holding pad, a large paved area at the end of the airport’s longer runway, would help speed departures by giving air traffic controllers an area where they could reshuffle the takeoff sequence of airplanes ready to leave.

In a March 12 letter to Greer, Sidney R. Allen, Burbank’s air traffic control chief, said the holding pad “is of critical importance for enhancing the air safety goals of the FAA and Burbank Airport.”

The remaining $800,000 would be used to expand a soundproofing project at Luther Burbank Middle School, which is south of the airport beneath the main takeoff pattern. The school is undergoing a $2.5 million soundproofing that is funded 80% by the FAA and the rest by the airport, airport spokeswoman Elly Mixsell said.