Burbank's Hollywood Burbank Airport opened its replacement passenger terminal this morning, ending roughly 40 years of failed attempts to move operations off a terminal site that sits dangerously close to runway 8/26. The airport's largest tenant, Southwest Airlines, previewed the facility to media last week, flying in its California One 737 for the event.

The new building keeps the same 14 gates as the old complex — but it puts them in a structure that clears the safety problem that has shadowed the airport for decades.

Why did the old terminal have to go?

The original terminals date back nearly 100 years and were never designed for large jets. Holdrooms are tiny. Ticket counters crowd the space. Security checkpoints run undersized. The airport worked surprisingly well despite all that, according to visitors — but the layout problems never touched the real issue.

The terminal sits far too close to runway 8/26. In normal configuration, aircraft land from the west and the taxi-in takes about 10 seconds. That proximity cuts both ways: an overrun could wipe out the terminal.

It nearly happened. In 2000, a Southwest 737-300 ran off the end of the runway onto Hollywood Way, stopping just short of a gas station. That gas station has since been razed and an engineered materials arresting system (EMAS) now guards against overruns — but the physical terminal stayed where it was.

Efforts to relocate the terminal stretched across four decades. Community opponents, who would rather have seen the airport closed entirely, fought each proposal — a protracted NIMBY battle that only recently was overcome.

What is the new terminal, and where did they build it?

The replacement stands on the site of the old Lockheed Skunk Works — the same ground where some Lockheed L-1011s were built. The plant was abandoned long ago and mostly razed in the 1990s. An Amazon warehouse now occupies most of the former Lockheed property; the terminal roadway loops around it, because this parcel was held open for the project.

Inside, the layout is compact and single-level:

• One roadway serving the whole airport
• A six-level short-term parking garage with a direct view of departures off runway 15
• TSA screening at the center, just past the entrance canopy
• A modest ticket counter line — Burbank is simply not a big airport
• Three baggage carousels
• Gates 1–9 to the right of the central lobby, the final five on the other side

Two quirks stand out. The ramp ground is not level, so the concourse rises in slight inclines every three gates to stay aligned with the aircraft. And boarding remains ground-boarding — no jet bridges — a feature passengers reportedly welcome, at least until an El Niño-fueled winter tests it.

The overall feel, one preview visitor noted, is Long Beach's terminal with the center enclosed rather than open-air.

What happens to the old terminals and ground transport?

The red-highlighted old terminals on the airport map will come out of passenger service. But not everything moves north.

Car rentals stay in the old Intermodal Transit Center on the south side, which now requires a shuttle — passengers could previously walk from the terminal. Amtrak and the Ventura County Metrolink line passengers will need that shuttle too. Antelope Valley Metrolink riders, by contrast, land within walking distance of their station on the north side.

What does it cost airlines?

Burbank has been an extraordinary bargain for carriers, with cost per enplanement sitting around $2 today. That era ends with the new terminal.

An April consultant report projects the figure climbing close to $25.50. Aviation analyst Ned Russell puts the landing point lower, at $20.19. Either number would be a figure Los Angeles International could only dream of, and neither is out of line for the region.

For Southwest, the airport's dominant operator, the question ahead is whether the added cost and the relocated terminal preserve the walk-up, quick-turn convenience that made Burbank competitive against LAX in the first place.