Burbank's $1.3-Billion Terminal Opens With 14 Gates and Familiar Limits

Hollywood Burbank Airport opened a $1.3-billion replacement terminal on Tuesday, 33 months after construction began, moving roughly 90 daily departures and arrivals across eight airlines into a building that is larger and safer — but no bigger in capacity.

The new 355,000-square-foot facility at Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way measures about 50% larger than the two terminals it replaces, which dated to 1930. It keeps the same two runways, the same 14 gates and effectively the same schedule. Passengers still board from the tarmac using outdoor steps, front and rear, a practice long prized for its speed.

Alaska Flight 3401 to Santa Rosa departed first, at 7:03 a.m. with 33 passengers. Southwest Flight 189 from Las Vegas landed at 7:16 a.m. with 30 aboard.

"The taxi off was a little different. Instead of turning right, you turn left," said Southwest pilot Mike Petros, who arrived from Sacramento at 7:31 a.m. He told passengers mid-flight to alert anyone picking them up.

Many needed the warning. Airport staff redirected confused travelers from the old terminals, now idle. Anthony Bailey, 29, learned of the switch from his Uber driver.

What does the new terminal actually change?

The safety case drove the project. The old facility failed current state seismic standards and FAA design standards, drawing repeated warnings. The replacement also moves the terminal roughly 623 feet farther from the nearest runway — from 257 feet to about 880 feet — bringing the airport into FAA compliance.

Passenger-side improvements are measurable if modest:

• The walk from entrance to farthest gate shrinks from 1,600 feet to 1,285 feet.
• TSA screening lines rise from five to eight.
• Baggage claim moves indoors.
• Every seat has access to power, mostly USB-C.
• A new parking structure adds about 2,000 spaces and 310 EV charging ports; the airport total stays at 6,637.

What did not open on day one?

None of the terminal's 13 food concessions was fully operating Tuesday. Two offered grab-and-go. Airport spokesperson Mike Christensen said more would arrive later in the day and week; the full roster runs from Guy Fieri's Flavor Town to Starbucks. Most of six retail stores were open.

"It's horrible, there's no restaurants and not enough security stations," said William Langlois of Tampa, who went to the old terminal first. His companion, Annie Cerillo, was blunter about the trade: before this change, "this was the easiest airport."

How does the opening square with the numbers?

The authority tested the operation on Sept. 19 with a passenger simulation trial involving 1,500 volunteers. Voters approved the replacement project in 2016. The airport handled about 6.2 million passengers in 2025 across roughly 30 nonstop destinations, making it the second-busiest in Los Angeles County behind LAX.

Operating limits persist. The airport runs 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., unlike LAX, which has no curfew — a constraint rooted in decades of friction with surrounding San Fernando Valley neighborhoods.

Authority president Tyron Hampton, a Pasadena council member, declined rivalry talk. "I don't like to compare," he said. "We have 14 gates. LAX has 161."

He also framed the building as means, not end: "It's a beautiful building, but buildings aren't anything without people who fill them with dedication and service." He predicted the facility would draw new passengers and businesses to the Winona Avenue corridor.

The contrast with the region's larger project is hard to miss. LAX's 2.25-mile SkyLink people mover, delayed by technical and legal issues, will not open before Jan. 6. Burbank, by comparison, delivered on schedule — a modest building, on time, with restaurants promised for later in the week.