BURBANK, Calif., July 8 (Burbank News Online) — Hollywood Burbank Airport is in the middle of a major replacement project that will swap out its two smaller terminal buildings for one new terminal complex. The project, called Elevate BUR in some airport materials and reporting, is budgeted at about $1.3 billion and is now scheduled to open in October 2026, according to updated project timelines cited by news reports and airport-related materials.
For travelers, the biggest changes should be simpler wayfinding, a new ticketing lobby, a new TSA checkpoint, a new baggage claim area, more food and retail space, and a new parking structure. The airport’s current gate count is not expected to change: the new terminal is planned to have 14 gates, the same number the airport uses now.
What is being built?
The project is a full replacement terminal at Hollywood Burbank Airport in Burbank, California. Instead of keeping the airport’s current smaller buildings in place, the plan is to move operations into one larger terminal and later tear down the old structures after the new one opens.
Published descriptions of the project say the terminal will be roughly 335,000 to 355,000 square feet. The sources provided do not show a single final figure in the underlying project documents, but they consistently describe the new building as much larger and more consolidated than the current setup.
The new terminal is also expected to include shops and restaurants, plus indoor baggage claim. One report based on an updated timeline says the project also includes a new parking structure with 2,007 spaces, including 400 valet spaces, while the airport’s total parking supply is expected to remain at 6,637 spaces.
Who is running the project?
The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority is the public body behind the project. Reporting tied to the airport says the work is being handled as a design-build job, a delivery method in which one team is responsible for both design and construction.
The contractor and design team named in reports includes Holder Construction, Pankow Builders and TEC Constructors & Engineers, with Jacobs handling project management. Architectural work is also credited to Corgan and CannonDesign.
When did construction start?
Construction began in January 2024, according to multiple reports. One source says work on the terminal itself began in May 2024. The project reached a topping-out milestone in January 2025, and later updates said the terminal was about 32% complete in March 2025 and roughly 55% complete by September 2025, after steel framing was finished.
Those milestones show the project is still under construction. They do not mean the airport has finished the work or started operating the new terminal.
When will it open?
Several reports say the target opening is October 2026. One updated project timeline, cited by ABC7 and other reports, gives a specific opening date of Oct. 13, 2026.
Until the airport confirms the final date in its own public documents, the clearest way to describe the schedule is this: the terminal is planned to open in October 2026, with Oct. 13 cited in at least one updated timeline.
Why does this matter for passengers?
Hollywood Burbank Airport is a busy regional airport, and the replacement terminal is meant to make travel through the airport easier and more efficient. A single larger terminal should reduce the need for passengers to move between separate buildings, and the new parking structure is intended to support airport access as the site changes.
Airport officials also told the Los Angeles Times that the new entrance at Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way will not change the airport’s operating hours or the number of flights. So while the building is changing, the basic level of airport service is expected to stay the same.
How did this project get here?
Reporting says voters approved the replacement project in 2016. Since then, the airport authority has moved the work through planning and design into construction. In that sense, the project is now in the build phase rather than the approval phase.
That distinction matters. The terminal is funded and under construction, but it is not yet operational. The key milestone to watch next is the opening date, followed by the move from the old terminal buildings into the new one and the demolition of the older structures after service shifts.
