Burbank fights to keep airport terminal from being expanded.

With its 1930s-era terminal, Burbank Airport stands in stark contrast to those gleaming high-rise office towers and modern studio production facilities dominating the nearby Burbank Media District.

That's the problem. Airport officials say that a new, more up-to-date facility is long overdue. But among the city's elected officials, airport expansion is considered an invitation to even greater congestion.

The battle over the new terminal is nothing new - airport officials have been fighting to build a larger facility for more than 15 years.

What's new is that Burbank - which once supported a larger terminal - is now led by a City Council that only wants one if it will be built to handle roughly the same amount of passenger traffic as the existing facility.

"The actions taken by Burbank, with the creation of its media district, has set the pace for the region," said Thomas E. Greer, executive director of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. "They are essentially approving all this new entertainment space...bringing with it traffic and congestion...but saying our plans would be too much for the city to handle."

Burbank City Councilman Robert Kramer had another viewpoint.

"We don't feel doubling or tripling the size is good for the residents, and we are not prepared to put up with the pollution it will bring into the city," Kramer said.

"There is no question that a larger terminal with more flights would bring a lot of revenue into the city. But, you have to look at the price residents will have to pay for this," he said.

To airport officials, the idea of limiting the size of the terminal to reduce flights is sheer folly. The passengers will come, with or without the new terminal, they say - so the question is whether or not the passengers will have places to sit while waiting to board their flights, or will be forced to stand in the hallways.

There also is a safety question. The old terminal is now too close to the east-west runway under modem federal safety standards.

Under the airport proposal, the old terminal would be demolished and a new, 19-gate, 465,000-square-foot terminal would be built on 140 acres alongside the north-south runway.

The $355 million project would nearly triple the size of the existing terminal. And the Airport Authority hopes to expand even further in the future by adding another eight gates. At present, there are 14 gates.

Burbank supported the new terminal plans in the 1980s, but under a new City Council it has broken with Glendale and Pasadena - its partners in the 1978 purchase of the airport from Lockheed Corp. (now Lockheed Martin).

The three cities continue to operate the airport jointly as the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, but the city of Burbank has filed a restraining order to block the project (as has the city of Los Angeles).

Supporters say the airport is vital to the economy of the San Fernando Valley - especially to the East Valley area surrounding Burbank.

The airport currently pumps more than $878 million annually into the local economy and provides 17,115 airport-related jobs, according to a recent economic study. The city benefits most from the airport, with $162.5 million going to local employees and businesses.

In addition, the airport provides 3,012 jobs for Burbank residents, according to the study, which was prepared by a private consulting firm on behalf of the airport.

An expansion plan would immediately bring more revenue to city coffers and the local economy, said Eric McClellan, an analyst with Wilbur Smith Associates.

"Each scenario is different, but building or doing a major renovation will have an immediate impact on the local economy," said McClellan, whose South Carolina-based firm specializes in the impacts of airport construction. "This will drive the economy....and there is evidence of this in places like Orange County and Ontario."

John Wayne Airport in Irvine - which has long been compared to Burbank Airport - expanded its terminal in 1990. The airport went from 290,000 square feet when it was built in 1967 to 338,000-square-feet with 14 gates today.

The new facility received high ratings from travelers for its convenience and design, said Kathleen Campini Chambers, a spokeswoman for the airport.

"The main reason we built the terminal was demand - we were growing so greatly that it mandated a new terminal," she said.

Within the first two years after the expansion, the airport kicked in more than 57,000 jobs and about $1.1 billion annually to the local economy.

David Raad of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce contends that modernization remains the No. 1 priority; questions of expansion could be ironed out between the airport authority and the city.

"As people come into this city for business, the first thing they would see is the terminal," said Raad, whose chamber represents such Burbank-based media giants as the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros., and NBC.

"If it is a state-of-the-art facility, this will have a positive influence on business travelers on the city itself," Raad said.

Aside from the economic benefit, there also is the issue of simply meeting demand.

In 1995, there were 31,500 departures that brought an estimated 4.9 million passengers through the terminals. Projections by the airport authority show that by 1998, there will be 37,500 departures with 5.4 million passengers.

By the year 2010, there will be 10 million passengers traveling on an estimated 58,000 departing flights. These numbers are not reflective of an expansion, according to the authority.

That poses a tough question for carriers currently using Burbank. The airport has fast become a favorite among airlines seeking travelers who choose it as an alternative to Los Angeles International Airport.

Herb Kelleher, chief executive officer of Southwest Airlines, said the airport must expand to meet this growing demand. Otherwise, airlines like Southwest might concentrate services on other facilities in the region.

"You know the facility, it's about maxed," he said. "We've had to resort to all sorts of contrivances to make it work. The gates are too small and there are too many passengers for them.

"It was built for the airplanes of another era," he added. "If the facility isn't expanded, obviously the decision is going to be made to go someplace else and serve someplace else and do something else."

Striking a balance might take some time, said airport spokesman Victor Gill. The airport is making strides to develop the new terminal, but construction isn't expected to happen anytime soon.

"The progress isn't happening at the rate a speed boat might travel on the water, more like a sail boat," he said. "The point is, we are making progress."