New terminal projects at Los Angeles International and Hollywood Burbank airports reached key milestones late last month.

At LAX, construction crews placed the final structural beam on the frame structure for the 150,000-square-foot Midfield Satellite Concourse South extension to the West Gates at the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

A week later, a long-awaited groundbreaking was held at Hollywood Burbank Airport for the $1.25 billion terminal replacement project, which features a new 355,000-square-foot terminal building and parking structure.

At LAX, the Midfield Satellite Concourse South is the final portion of what is essentially a major new terminal on the tarmac behind the Tom Bradley International Terminal. The larger portion of this terminal, now named the West Gates, opened in 2021; it’s a 1.7 million-square-foot, $1.7 billion concourse with 15 gates, 12 of which can accommodate widebody aircraft.

The entire complex is technically a concourse because it lacks independent ticketing facilities; passengers get their boarding passes at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and walk through a tunnel that goes underneath a portion of the airfield to get to the West Gates. 

The south portion of this concourse, when completed, will add eight gates (for narrowbody aircraft only) to the existing West Gates concourse. It is currently budgeted for about $405 million.

The construction of this concourse extension is somewhat unique in that most of the components are being constructed offsite. Chicago-based project contractor W.E. O’Neill Construction will then guide the final onsite assembly. The concourse extension, which has been designed by the Los Angeles office of Woods Bagot, is expected to open sometime next year.

The placement of the last beam on the main structure of the southern concourse extension, referred to as a “topping out,” took place on Jan 17.

“As we celebrate LAX’s MSC South’s topping out less than seven months after its groundbreaking, I am proud to be progressing this first-of-its-kind building technique that is setting the bar for world-class design, and not just for the aviation sector,” said Beatrice Hsu, who was at the time the interim chief executive for Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that runs LAX. The new chief executive, John Ackerman, has since taken the helm.

The groundbreaking at Hollywood Burbank Airport was decades in the making. Plans for a new terminal to replace the aging terminal (which opened in 1930) first surfaced more than two decades ago. But the project has had to overcome numerous challenges from nearby residents concerned about increased flight frequency.

The new 355,000-square-foot, 14-gate terminal will be located in the northeast quadrant of the airport, across the airfield from the current terminal. It will include the latest in ticketing and screening technologies, as well as modernized baggage claim facilities.

The new terminal building is currently budgeted for about $641 million, while the entire project – including a new parking structure, a 45,900-square-foot aircraft parking area for boarding and deplaning, and a new access road – is expected to cost around $1.25 billion. 

Completion of the terminal building is set for some time in 2026.

The design-build contractor team for the replacement terminal consists of Atlanta-based Holder Construction, San Francisco-based Pankow Builders and Inglewood-based TEC Constructors and Engineers. The design team for the new terminal is led by Culver City-based Corgan and New York-based CannonDesign.