News and Updates – FAA Issues Environmental Decision for Burbank Terminal Project

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued its final environmental decision on the proposed replacement passenger terminal project for Bob Hope Hollywood Burbank Airport. The decision enables the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority to move the project forward.

The FAAs Final Environmental Impact Statement found the project would have either no impacts or no significant impacts on more than a dozen environmental categories that the FAA analyzed under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The Airport Authority proposes to build a new 355,000-square-foot, 14-gate passenger terminal in the northeast section of the airport. It would replace the existing, 14-gate passenger terminal in the southeast section of the airport built in 1929, which does not meet current FAA safety standards because of its proximity to the taxiways and runways.

The existing passenger terminal would be demolished and parallel Taxiways A and C would be extended full length to the ends of Runways 15-33 and 8-26, respectively. The project also would include building a 45,900-square-foot aircraft apron, public parking structure, airline cargo building, passenger terminal access road, aircraft rescue and firefighting station, central utility plant, and other infrastructure. A number of structures and facilities would be removed or demolished.

As part of its environmental review of the project, the FAA held two virtual public workshops and a public hearing in September 2020, followed by a 67-day public comment period. The agency evaluated and responded to more than 1,500 comments from 317 commenters. The comments and the FAAs responses to those comments are available in Appendix M of the final EIS. A Q&A about the project is available on the project website.

The proposed project does not involve changes to any airspace procedures.The FAAs proposed amendments to two existing Bob Hope Hollywood Burbank Airport departure procedures are an independent project that is undergoinga separate federal environmental review.