Burbank's New Airport Terminal Opens Tuesday. The Airport Is Still the Same Size.

For decades, getting into Hollywood Burbank Airport has meant turning in off Thornton Avenue. Starting Tuesday, October 13, the main entrance moves to Winona Avenue at Hollywood Way. Across from it is a new terminal on the other side of the airfield, plus a seven-level parking garage that didn't exist a few years ago.

What isn't changing is the size of the airport. The new building still has 14 gates, and you'll still walk outside to board your plane. If you live in Burbank and fly out of BUR a few times a year, nearly everything new for you happens before security and after you land. The time you spend inside the building stays roughly the same. The things you've done on autopilot for years are what need updating: which way you turn, where you park, where you wait and what it costs.

A Bigger Building With the Same Fourteen Gates

The Los Angeles Daily News puts the new terminal at 355,000 square feet. The terminal complex it replaces is 232,000 square feet, and its original buildings opened in 1930. The gate count stays at 14, and airport officials have called the project a replacement, not a capacity expansion. The price was nearly $1.3 billion.

The new building is mostly about distance from the runways. Planning goes back to the 1980s, when the FAA found that the old terminal sat too close to the runway to leave an adequate safety margin for aircraft. Neighborhood opposition stalled the plans for decades. Burbank voters cleared the way in November 2016 when they passed Measure B with 70% of the vote, and construction started in January 2024.

Some parts of the experience were kept on purpose. Boarding and deplaning stay outdoors, with no jet bridges. Inside, you'll find larger TSA screening areas, more charging ports and kiosks, and one indoor baggage claim hall with three carousels. According to the authority, the money came from airport revenue bonds, federal grants, passenger facility charges and authority funds. No state or county money went into it, and neither did local funds from Burbank, Glendale or Pasadena. The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority owns and runs the airport, and each of the three cities appoints three of its nine commissioners.

The Ground-Side Routine Is What Moved

Since the gates and boarding stayed the same, the airport's announcements are mostly about cars. Here's how the parking options compare before and after Tuesday, based on the airport's short-term and long-term parking pages:

The airport's pages don't fully agree with each other yet. The short-term page announces the $49 daily rate, but its hourly table further down still shows a $42 daily maximum. The valet page lists a $40 daily maximum next to the announced $59. Lot G's detailed schedule shows $26 a day, while the announcement says $24. Until the pages match, confirm the current rate with the airport before you park.

The same hourly table offers a few useful benchmarks for a quick pickup. If those rates still hold, a stop of up to 30 minutes costs $3, up to an hour costs $5 and up to two hours costs $13. Pre-booking isn't available right now while the airport changes parking operators, but you can drive up and park in any airport lot. The ticketless setup is staying. You insert a credit card at the entry column, then use the same card in the Express Exit Lane when you leave.

Picking someone up comes with one rule to keep in mind. Drivers can drop off and pick up at the curb, but they can't wait there. If your passenger isn't out yet, the airport sends you to the short-term structure across from the terminal. We couldn't find any airport page describing a separate cell-phone lot. The airport's FAQ suggests parking in the structure and meeting arriving passengers in the baggage claim area.

Getting There Without a Car Is Mostly Unchanged

If you don't want to pay $49 a day, the new terminal still connects to the transit already in place. The Regional Intermodal Transportation Center and the consolidated rental-car facility are staying put across Hollywood Way, and shuttles will link them to the new terminal. Rideshare passengers get a new pickup lot near the terminal.

Metrolink spells out both rail connections:

1. Burbank Airport–South, Ventura County Line. Cross Empire Avenue to the RITC and take the free airport shuttle. On the way home, catch the shuttle on the ground floor of the parking structure across from the terminal.
2. Burbank Airport–North, Antelope Valley Line. Walk about half a mile via Cohasset Street, or request the free on-demand shuttle. Pickup for the ride back to the station is at the parking structure.

Metrolink says both station shuttles run from 4:45 a.m. to 1 a.m. When flights run late, service continues until 45 minutes after the last flight. The airport's bus page puts Metro Bus and BurbankBus at the Transit Center on the RITC ground level. That page was written well before the opening, so if you depend on a particular bus route, check with Metro or BurbankBus for any stop changes.

Inside, the Concessions Read Like a Map of the Three Cities

Beyond the curb and the garage, the biggest change inside is that the food court comes from businesses you already know locally. myBurbank reported that Steve Mora, owner of Metropolitan Culinary Services LLC, runs every food and beverage location at the airport. He picked well-known businesses to reflect each of the three cities served by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

Poquito Mas is the clearest example. Kevin McCarney told myBurbank that the restaurant will make fresh tortillas from scratch every day, with travelers able to watch them cook. He described the airport location as a meaningful next chapter after 34 years in Burbank.

"I feel so grateful that I can't put it in words," McCarney said, as reported by myBurbank. "I feel honored to be a part of it."

Between the October 5 preview and an earlier walkthrough by the Los Angeles Times, these local names are confirmed for the new terminal:

• Poquito Mas, a newcomer to the airport, making tortillas on-site
• West Coast Smash Burger, another newcomer
• Jones Coffee Roasters and Perry's Joint, both returning from the old terminal
• Tansy and Octavia's Bookshelf, named at the October ribbon-cutting
• West Coast Customs, which Mayor Tamala Takahashi named as a local business represented in the terminal

The spot with the most Burbank history is a new pub at the center of the airport. It's named for Mora's father, Pete, who started running the airport barbershop in 1977. He served travelers, local first responders and aviation figures such as Lockheed designer Kelly Johnson. In 1992 he moved into the terminal's food concessions with his son. Around Burbank he was known as "The Cookie Man" for handing out jumbo homemade chocolate chip cookies, and the pub serves them.

Past the TSA checkpoint, look up. Glenn Kaino's suspended installation, "When We Reflect," draws on the camouflage nets made by incarcerated Japanese Americans at the Santa Anita Assembly Center during World War II. Netting like that helped hide wartime facilities from possible air attack, including the Burbank airport and nearby Lockheed operations.

The First Weeks, and the Old Terminal's Last Months

The building has already had a test run. In the last of three operational tests on September 19, 1,500 volunteers worked through parking, ticketing, baggage, TSA screening and gate operations alongside airport, airline and TSA staff. Officials told the Daily News that 98% of the feedback was positive. Signage and wayfinding were the areas flagged for improvement.

The airport hasn't published special timing advice for the opening weeks. Its standing guidance is to arrive at least one hour before departure, or at least two hours during peak holiday travel.

The old terminal won't be around much longer. The airport's project FAQ says demolition of the old terminal will start once the new one is running, in late 2026, and should take about nine months.

A new terminal at the end of Hollywood Way changes daily routines in the neighborhoods around it, from commute routes to which streets near the airfield get busy and when. If you're weighing what changes like this mean for a home you own or are thinking about buying in Burbank, Mounika Haftavani is glad to talk it through with you. Schedule a free consultation, and let's talk about your next move.