It’s been about 40 years in the making, but as of this morning, Burbank Airport finally has a new terminal that isn’t considered to be a safety hazard. The airport’s largest tenant Southwest invited me to an event last week to get a sneak preview of the space. It is going to be a very welcome change.
Here is a map of what is happening:
The old terminals are highlighted in red on the map. This first opened nearly 100 years ago, and it was in no way capable of handling large jets.
The holdrooms are tiny, the ticket counters are crowded, and the security checkpoints are very undersized. It has operated surprisingly well considering all of the problems there, but none of this even takes into account the safety issues.
The terminal is far too close to runway 8/26. Aircraft land from the west during normal configuration, so the taxi time ends up being about 10 seconds, but if something goes wrong, it could easily wipe the terminal out.
The last time something went really wrong was in 2000 when a Southwest B737-300 ran off the end of the runway into Hollywood Way and ended up just short of a gas station. I put that on the map so you could see where it was. The gas station has mercifully been razed, and EMAS has been installed to prevent overruns, but it is still dangerously close to the physical terminal.
There have been efforts to fix this for about 40 years, but angry community-members who would rather see the airport closed fought it at every turn. It was one of the more terrible displays of NIMBYism out there. But it was finally overcome, and now, that green building on the map is ready for primetime.
The new terminal was built on top of the old Lockheed Skunk Works, also the location where some L-1011s were built. That was abandoned ages ago, and it was mostly razed in the 1990s. If you look on the map, that roadway into the new terminal goes around a giant Amazon warehouse that was built on most of the property. But this part was kept open for a new terminal.
The approach in has a nice view of the runway, and then there’s the terminal in front of you with a cool-looking wing-like structure connecting the parking garage at right with the terminal at left. (You can’t walk on or in it, you have to cross at ground level.)
I pulled into the new short-term parking garage that goes up to level six which, as I found out, has a very nice review of departing aircraft which tend to use runway 15 during a regular day.
From up there, you can look down on the roadway. This is a single level airport, so there is only this one roadway.
Entering the terminal under the canopy, you are drawn to the center of the structure.
Just inside is where the TSA screening will be, but it was not fully in place for this event.
To the right of this is a long line of ticket counters. Actually, it’s not all that long. It’s just not that big of an airport.
And to the left is the baggage claim area with three carousels.
Once you pass through security, there is a large space for sitting and waiting along with some food and drink options.
From there, if you’re looking out at the ramp, you can turn right to go to gates 1 to 9.
The gate areas look pretty standard, just what you’d expect to see. The holdrooms on this side are in groups of threes before there’s another structure to separate gates.
An interesting quirk here is that the ground is not level. To keep the terminal level, there had to be slight inclines every three gates to keep it aligned with the ramp. You can see this outside.
Southwest brought California One in for the event. You might not care about that, nor will you care about how the airplane is lined up parallel to the terminal. But these are the ramps that will be used for boarding. That’s right. The new facility uses ground-boarding still, and people are pretty happy about that. (We’ll see how they feel after this El Niño-fueled winter….)
The final five gates are on the other side of the central lobby area, but I don’t need to show you those. They look the same. What Burbank wants you to know is that there are still 14 gates in this terminal just like in the old facility. This is just a much better experience for all, and a safer one.
This shift will cause heartburn for some people. If you’re renting a car? That is staying in the old Intermodal Transit Center which is going to require a shuttle now. You used to be able to walk from the terminal. And if you like to take Amtrak or ride the Ventura County Metrolink line, you’re going to need that shuttle as well. All of that is on the south side as the map shows.
If you take the Antelope Valley Metrolink line, however, then you are now within walking distance of that station on the north side. You can also take a shuttle.
In the end, this is a better setup, and they’ve done it right. It feels like Long Beach but the center is just enclosed instead of open air. It wasn’t cheap to build, but it was reasonable. Burbank has been an absolute bargain up until now for airlines with the cost per enplanement sitting right around $2 today. That is wild. It will now rise, with this report from April saying it will get close to $25.50, but Ned Russell says it will only get to $20.19.
Either way, that’s a number that LAX could only dream of, and it’s not out of line for this area.
If you’re coming from or heading to that part of town, give the new terminal a shot on your next trip. It’s going to be a very nice experience.
