As my home airport, I watched with great dismay as service to Burbank greatly shrunk during the Great Recession. Now with great delight I watch service returning to pre-recession levels. In a bid to draw even more travelers (and airlines), the airport is reverting back to its classic name.
Bordering Burbank and North Hollywood, BUR was called Hollywood Burbank Airport until 1978. In that year, it was renamed Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport. Then in 2003, the airport was renamed again to Bob Hope. Hope passed away in 2003 and had used Burbank Airport throughout his career.
But Bob Hope Airport…where was that? Although more booking engines still referred to the airport as Burbank (BUR), airport officials figured the lack of clarity needed to be fixed. So per Travel Skills, the airport is now reverting back to its pre-1978 name of Hollywood Burbank Airport.
New signage will appear soon, but more changes are afoot. Voters approved a new 14-gate terminal facility that will be be built further away from the runway. The current position of the terminal does not satisfy FAA regulations, but the 1930 airport has been grandfathered in.
Currently the airport is divided into two terminals — A and B — with A containing most gates and B containing four gates and used by Delta, United, and Alaska only. I flew up yesterday from Burbank to Seattle for FTU and it was great to see United mainline back — a morning A319 to Denver:
Southwest is the dominant player at the airport with intra-California service to many cities as well as Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix. American also flies to Phoenix, JetBlue to New York, Delta to Salt Lake City, United to Denver/San Francisco. Although airport traffic is growing again (up about 4MN passengers in 2016 over 2015), flights like Delta’s Burbank – Atlanta or United’s Burbank – Chicago have not returned.
Sadly, the existing terminal is built directly adjacent to the airport rail station, linking passengers to destinations around the region. The new terminal will require bus shuttle transit to reach the train station.
CONCLUSION
I’ve mentioned before that I live less than 15 minutes from Burbank Airport. It is a remarkable alternative to LAX and not just for me, but for many Los Angeles residents. Selfishly, I hope that “LA’s little secret” will not become just LAX Jr. with the sort of crowding and traffic issues that make it an airport I always avoid if possible.
Darren (Frequently Flying) would’ve loved to read your post. He also used BUR as an alternative to LAX many times and lived within your proximity to it for about 4 years. He would’ve loved your great pics, too.
I live in Mission Hills and work across the street from Bob Hope! We should totally hang out 😀
I hope they open a loung here.