Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Hollywood Burbank Airport (KBUR) lies three miles northwest of downtown Burbank in Los Angeles County, serving the northern Greater Los Angeles area including Hollywood, Glendale and the San Fernando Valley. Long known by names including Lockheed Air Terminal and Bob Hope Airport, it offers a sim pilot an ILS approach, hilly surrounding terrain and a rich aviation heritage tied to Lockheed and early Los Angeles commercial aviation. It sits within busy Southern California airspace, close to Los Angeles International and Van Nuys.
Hollywood Burbank Airport, identified as KBUR, is a public airport at Burbank, California, three miles northwest of the city's downtown. It is operated by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority and serves the northern Greater Los Angeles area, including Hollywood, Glendale, Pasadena, the San Fernando Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley. For a simulator pilot the field is notable for its long and layered history under several names, its proximity to Hollywood studios and Griffith Park, and the operational character of flying into a busy Southern California field with an instrument approach and voluntary noise abatement procedures.
The airport is tagged as Class C airspace and sits under the control of Southern California TRACON, referred to on frequency as SOCAL APP/DEP. It lies close to the wider Los Angeles Class B airspace complex and to Van Nuys Airport, and is positioned three miles northwest of downtown Burbank, within reach of well-known landmarks such as Griffith Park, Universal Studios Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles.
Hollywood Burbank Airport has two physical runways. Runway 15/33 is a hard-surfaced, lit runway, 5981 feet in length on the 15 threshold and 6541 feet on the 33 threshold. Runway 08/26 is also hard-surfaced and lit, 5785 feet in length in each direction, with an instrument landing system serving Runway 08. The field elevation is 722 feet.
Pilots should expect to work SOCAL Approach/Departure on 120.4 MHz, with the ATIS broadcasting on 134.5 MHz. Clearance delivery operates on 118 MHz, ground control on 123.9 MHz, and the tower on 118.7 MHz. A remote radio outlet associated with Hawthorne is listed on 122.35 MHz, and UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz. Runway 08 is equipped with an ILS.
The airport applies a voluntary noise abatement procedure to reduce the impact of arriving and departing traffic on surrounding communities. Departing aircraft usually take off to the south on Runway 15, while arriving aircraft usually land on Runway 8, winds permitting. Commercial flights are scheduled between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm.
The airport lies closer to several well-known Los Angeles landmarks than Los Angeles International Airport, including Griffith Park, Universal Studios Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles, all of which can serve as useful visual references when approaching from the south or east. Downtown Burbank itself, immediately southeast of the field, is another readily identifiable landmark for orientation.
The airport traces its origins to United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, which sought a new home for Pacific Air Transport and assembled a 234-acre site at Burbank after surveys by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce identified suitable locations. Construction was completed in seven months, with runways surfaced in a five-inch mixture of oil and sand, two of them over 3,600 feet long and a third 2,900 feet long, all 300 feet wide, with room left for future taxiways. The field, known as United Airport, was dedicated over Memorial Day weekend in 1930 with an air show, and its Spanish Revival terminal made it a showy rival to Grand Central Airport in Glendale, then the region's main airline hub. United Airport was the largest commercial airport in the Los Angeles area until 1946. The name changed to Union Air Terminal in 1934, coinciding with the dissolution of United Aircraft and Transport under federal anti-trust action. Lockheed purchased the airport in 1940 and renamed it Lockheed Air Terminal, a name that lasted until 1967 when it became Hollywood-Burbank Airport. In 1978 Lockheed sold the airport to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, which renamed it Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, and in 2003 it was legally renamed Bob Hope Airport after the comedian. In 2017 it was rebranded Hollywood Burbank Airport to better reflect the region it serves. Notably, the original entirely-Burbank site has since seen the north end of Runway 15/33 extended into the city of Los Angeles.
Hollywood Burbank Airport remains a busy medium-hub commercial facility, home base for operators including Ameriflight and JSX, and continues to apply its voluntary noise abatement procedures for arriving and departing traffic between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm. The airport is in the process of building a replacement passenger terminal, known as the Elevate BUR project, expected to open in 2026. Boarding at the current terminal uses air stairs rather than jet bridges, and the field maintains its own dedicated airport police and fire departments.
