A first glimpse of retooled Burbank Airport.

Imagine walking into Burbank Airport and finding a terminal with spacious lobbies, wide concourses, lots of concessionaires and plenty of seating for waiting passengers.

That vision could be just around the corner now that the city of Burbank and airport officials have reached a tentative agreement allowing construction of a new terminal to replace the 69-year-old relic of a facility.

So what exactly would the new terminal look like?

Airport officials don't quite know yet. They say they've been so consumed with battling the city of Burbank that the matter of actually building a new facility has been pushed aside. "This has been going on so long, it's kind of like, now what?" said airport spokesman Victor Gill.

Though detailed architectural plans are two years away, the Burbank Glendale Pasadena Airport Authority, which runs the facility, has submitted conceptual drawings to the city that provide a preview of the $175 million terminal.

As part of its deal with Burbank, the airport agreed to limit the number of gates to 14 - the same as the existing terminal. But that's where the similarities end.

The current terminal is so cramped that some passengers have to sit cross-legged on the floor during peak travel times. Such overcrowding is unlikely in the new 330,000-square-foot facility. which at twice the size of the current terminal should have enough room to handle the 4.7 million passengers who pass through Burbank Airport each year.

In addition, the current concourse, which is only 15 feet wide, would be expanded to 40 feet to give passengers plenty of room to walk to gates. And instead of a concourse that's 1,300 feet long, the new terminal would feature dual walkways to cut the maximum walk to 600 feet.

Within the terminal would be about 45,000 square feet of concession space - nearly double the current amount. Outside would be 5,000 parking spaces - a 25 percent increase.

"The new facility is intended to make it more convenient and more comfortable for the traveling public," said Dios Marrero, acting director of the Airport Authority. "You can see the difference when you go to a terminal building that people can walk around in and not feel crowded.

The agreement between the city of Burbank and the Airport Authority comes after court battles that lasted several years and cost millions of dollars. It appeared the fight would drag on indefinitely until the state Court of Appeal in May uphold the city's right to veto expansion of the airport.

With Burbank in clear control and time running out on a proposal to acquire land from Lockheed Martin Corp. for the new terminal, the Airport Authority had little choice but to give in.

Under a tentative deal struck last month. Burbank agreed to let the new terminal move forward if airport officials limited the first phase of expansion to 14 gates. Future expansion to 16 and ultimately 19 gates would depend on the airport winning a mandatory night-time curfew on flights - a difficult hurdle that involves a costly noise study and requires approval by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The city also demanded that the terminal building be closed between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., a move that would impose a de facto curfew while the airport attempts to win a formal curfew from the FAA.

Comparing Terminals

New facility would be twice the size and include inside baggage
claim area.

                                   Existing                New
                                   Terminal              Terminal

Total square footage         170,000 sq.ft.       330,000 sq. ft.
Concession space                     24,438                45,000
Passenger waiting areas              24,000                47,250
Restrooms                             3,081                 9,520
Ticket lobby                          4,340                17,700
Baggage claim lobby                    0(*)                41,570
Parking                        4,000 spaces          5,000 spaces
Curb space                1,600 linear feet     2,400 linear feet

Other features

New facility will be two stories, with modern sky ways to load
passengers directly onto aircraft. The new terminal will feature
two, 600-foot-long concourses on each side that are 40 feet wide,
replacing the single 1,300-foot-long concourse that is too narrow
for passengers.

* The airport has no listed baggage claim area because passengers
must go outside to retrieve their luggage.

"I think this deal is extremely positive for the city." said Burbank Mayor Stacey Murphy. "It allows for a modern terminal but gives us some local control over future growth."

But the Air Transport Association, a group representing 23 airlines, has already sent a letter to the FAA protesting the proposed shutdown. The FAA is reviewing the matter and has not yet made a determination.

Kris Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for Air Transport Association, said the airlines would like to see a modern facility in Burbank but not at the cost of inconveniencing passengers with overnight closure. "It's one of the quietest airports in the country. There are definitely terminals with much bigger noise problems." she said.

Fitzgerald said the proposed shutdown is an attempt to bypass the Airport Noise and Capacity Act, a 1990 federal law that prevents cities from imposing unfair restrictions on air commerce.

While the airlines feel the restrictions go too far, a vocal group of residents led by former Burbank Councilman Ted McConkey believe they don't go far enough.

McConkey has vowed to launch an initiative to nullify the tentative agreement between the city and airport that effectively blocks the new air terminal until strict noise controls are in place.

"Granted. there are tremendous economic benefits from an airport, but the flip side of that coin are the negative impacts; the noise, the sleep deprivation and pollution," said McConkey.

The group will have 180 days to gather 5,200 valid signatures from the city's 52,000 registered voters in order to place an airport measure on the ballot.

Gill, the airport spokesman, said the city has promised speedy processing of the airport's application for expansion, with approval expected by the end of the year. It will then take 12 to 18 months to complete architectural drawings and another year to 18 months to build the facility.

The existing terminal was opened in 1930. years before the advent of the jet. A picture of the facility's first day of operation hanging on a wall in the Airport Authority's office shows a squadron of biplanes, the airport's principal user at the time, lined up for takeoff.

But while the small field has faithfully served the growing San Fernando Valley, the terminal building is a patchwork of additions.

It has so little curb space - a meager 1,600 linear feet - it often creates virtual gridlock for people picking up or dropping off passengers. The new facility would have 2,400 linear feet of curb space.

Other than a small baggage-claim area in a rental car area near the United Airlines gate. there is no inside baggage-claim area. Passengers have to leave the air terminal to pick up their baggage outside. The new terminal will have 41,570 square feet of space for baggage pickup under the terminal roof.

Then there's the matter of getting on and off planes. Burbank still holds to the quaint practice of moving old-fashioned ramps into position below the planes. Officials at Southwest Airlines. which handles about 60 percent of the airport's passenger lead, were so miffed at delays caused by the old ramps that they installed their own two-story loading bridges to move passengers room efficiently. The new facility, a two-story structure, will feature modern loading bridges.

But while the airport is inconvenient to passengers, you won't hear the airlines complaining too much, said Gill. That's because their fees for using the terminal are less than half what LAX charges.