BURBANK, Calif. () — It’s a whole new look inside Hollywood Burbank Airport.
The newly renovated 14-gate, 355,000-square-foot terminal opened Saturday for a mock flight experience, just ahead of its grand opening next month.
A total of 1,500 volunteer “passengers” practiced checking in, going through TSA, arriving at their gate, providing boarding passes for their flight and then “arriving” back in their terminal before ending at baggage claim.
The new terminal – upgraded after 96 years – features new restaurants, retail stores, elevated ceilings and wireless charging stations at every gate’s seating, as well as animated displays.
Hollywood Burbank Airport handles around 133,000 to 155,000 aircraft operations and serves over 6.2 to 6.5 million passengers every year.
“The main reason that we built this new terminal is safety projects. As you can imagine, a 96-year-old terminal does not comply with current FAA standards. So our old terminal, the runways are too close to the building, essentially. The center of the runway needs a lot more space, and it doesn’t have that. Here it’ll alleviate that,” said Mike Christensen, communications manager at Hollywood Burbank Airport.
At the end of the mock flight, passengers had the chance to weigh in on their experience.
“This is all about finding what’s going well, what’s not going well, so the airport can be ready opening day on Oct. 13,” Christensen said.
The airport will host a community experience for its new terminal on Oct. 8, giving the community a chance to visit before the official opening on Oct. 13.
“We hope that the Burbank airport – the new version of it – will give us new stops further East, because I’m originally from the Midwest,” said Burbank resident Gina Crawford. “… This is a much more convenient, much more convenient airport for anybody who lives in the San Fernando Valley or on this side of the hill.”
© 2026 Television,
