Bob Hope Airport

The credit rating agency Fitch this week warned that a planned $90-million transit center could significantly increase Bob Hope Airport's debt burden. In maintaining its AA- rating for the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, the agency warned that "absent a material change in the [transit center's] scope or borrowing elements, an affirmation of the 'AA-' rating is unlikely," according to a report in Business Wire. Earlier this year, Bob Hope Airport officials were forced to go back to the drawing board after construction bids for the center came in between $47 million and $69 million above the projected $112-million price tag. Officials blamed high steel costs and fears among contractors that the project could not be built as planned.

Authorities are searching for a 14-year-old autistic boy who wandered out of the Bob Hope Airport earlier today. Cameron James Smith was scheduled to depart on a 10:30 a.m. flight, but the plane had to return to the gate and the passengers exited the aircraft, officials said. The boy was seen boarding an airport parking shuttle in front of the terminal and he exited the shuttle at the airport's main entrance at Hollywood Way and Thornton Avenue, according to a statement from the airport.

A nationwide price survey among the 101 most searched airports on Cheapflights.com found that in June, Bob Hope Airport had the second-lowest average airfare at $248. Long Beach came in first at $223. The airport affordability list was compiled by computing the average fare users found while using the site, according to the report. General Mitchell International in Milwaukee came in third with an average airfare of $274. John F. Kennedy International in New York, at $568, Anchorage International, at $639, and  Honolulu International at $667 rounded out the top three most expensive airports.

Organizers of an all-day blood drive at Bob Hope Airport on Wednesday hope to collect 100 pints from donors in honor of the city's yearlong centennial celebration. The annual blood drive is organized each year in conjunction with some of the biggest companies in the vicinity of the airport, including the Burbank Airport Marriott, Yahoo! and media studios to benefit Providence hospitals in Burbank and other San Fernando Valley locations. Donors will be entered to win round trip airfare from JetBlue, hotel stays through Marriott and other prizes.

Income from parking fees took a nose dive at Bob Hope Airport in January, dropping about 6.2% compared to the same period last year, according to the latest figures released this week. Parking fees - an important revenue source - generated $1.5 million for the airport in January, down from almost $2 million during the same month last year, according to a report to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday. At the same time, the number of passenger using the airfield continued to slide, decreasing by 2.2%.

Bob Hope Airport launched an online questionnaire on Monday asking for input on various issues - including the possible construction of a new terminal - in order to expand on the information collected from a round of telephone surveys earlier this year. Residents in the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena area can log onto www.bobhopeairportsurvey.com and complete the questionnaire, which contains fewer questions than the telephone survey, and which have room for more open-ended answers . The site also contains results from the telephone surveys.

The 58-year-old man who was struck and killed by a car near Bob Hope Airport on Saturday was homeless, authorities said. Burbank police on Monday continued their investigation into the death of the man, who Los Angeles County coroner's officials said died of several traumatic injuries. Authorities did not release his identity pending notification of next of kin. [Feb. 21, 1:45 p.m.: This post has been amended, please see below for details.] He was struck about 3:50 p.m. on Empire Avenue, near Clybourn Avenue, where he was pronounced dead at the scene by firefighters and paramedics about 4 p.m., Burbank Police Sgt. Scott Meadows said.

Bob Hope Airport officials are scoffing at an U.S. EPA order to share in the $108-million tab to clean up contaminated groundwater by former aerospace manufacturing at the site. Airport officials have asked a federal judge to order Lockheed Corp., also listed in the order, to cover the airport's portion of the clean-up costs. The legal maneuver came after a July 6 letter in which the EPA named the Burbank airport as a "potentially responsible party" for the decades old ground contamination.

The number of passengers using the Bob Hope Airport in September remained flat compared to a year ago, stemming at least temporarily a downward spiral in traffic at the airfield for 2011, officials reported. American Airlines and United are also canceling some flights because of corporate restructuring and rising costs, which could impact local passenger numbers in the future, airfield officials said. The airport handled 360,321 passengers in September, compared to 360,538 the same period last year, according to the latest figures released to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday.

Credit agency Fitch this week downgraded its rating on Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority bonds, but noted the airport is in healthy financial shape overall. The agency dropped its rating to A+ from AA- on $53.5 million worth of outstanding 2005 bonds and assigned that same rating to $82.7 million of new bonds the airport plans to float to build a transit center. In a release Tuesday Fitch gave the airport a “stable” outlook, up from “rating watch negative.” Fitch listed several reasons for the rating downgrade, including “the volatile nature of operating revenues, which are influenced by recently weakened traffic performance.” Bob Hope Airport has been battling declining passenger numbers and revenues the past four years and suffered another blow when American Airlines pulled out of Burbank in February.

Bob Hope Airport officials this week authorized more than $82 million in bonds to pay for ancillary structures associated with a new regional transportation center. The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority signed off on the two, 30-year bonds for $82.7 million at a special meeting Monday - shoring up the last major piece of funding for center that will bring public transit and rental car facilities together for what officials hope will make for a better customer experience.

Bob Hope Airport will soon be known as Burbank Bob Hope Airport as part of a new summer ad campaign to drive more passengers to the regional airfield during its peak travel time of the year. The temporary name change comes as officials respond to airline concerns about the lack of a city identifier in the name of the airport , said John Hatanaka, the airport's senior deputy executive director. Dan Feger, the airport's executive director, said that, for now, the name change was only for the summer advertising campaign.

Bob Hope Airport launched an online questionnaire on Monday asking for input on various issues - including the possible construction of a new terminal - in order to expand on the information collected from a round of telephone surveys earlier this year. Residents in the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena area can log onto www.bobhopeairportsurvey.com and complete the questionnaire, which contains fewer questions than the telephone survey, and which have room for more open-ended answers . The site also contains results from the telephone surveys.

Bob Hope Airport was among eight airfields across the nation that ranked in the top eight best alternative airports in the latest edition of Inc. magazine . Here's what the magazine had to say about Burbank's airport: With an on time departure rate comparable to that at LAX, Burbank is another excellent alternative airport that offers travelers an easy airport experience with lots of cheap parking, short lines at check in and security,...

Nominees for president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority may soon no longer have to leave the room when fellow members deliberate and vote to fill the position. The California Fair Political Practices Commission recently approved an amendment to its conflict-of-interest regulations allowing public officials to participate in their agency's decision to appoint them to certain paid positions. Members of the authority, which owns and oversees the Bob Hope Airport, were informed of the change during their meeting on Monday.

BURBANK - The captain of a US Airways Airbus jet ordered his craft evacuated Sunday morning, stopping the plane during takeoff due to an engine malfunction, airline officials said. The Phoenix-bound craft had 67 passengers and five crew members aboard, said US Airways spokesman Bill McGlashen. The emergency call came in about 7 a.m., as the plane began taxing down the runway. “During the early part of the takeoff, the captain had an engine indicator light,” said McGlashen.

Re: New Flight Patterns Make No Sense, Letter from Tom Paterson, 3/25/12 News-Press & Leader The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority appreciates the input of all members of the community as it moves forward with the City of Burbank in developing a future vision for the airport. Mr. Paterson's letter expresses his concerns about terminal replacement and flight operations. We're sure he would appreciate our correcting his misstatements of fact. The Federal Aviation Administration has not said the existing terminal is unsafe.

Here we go again. A less-than-transparent airport paid for a “secret survey” about replacing the existing terminal (“ Poll findings boost terminal proponents ,” March 18). They seemed to have left out “expansion” in the questioning of residents. For decades we've heard the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority drum beat for a new “safe” terminal, yet during this period, the Federal Aviation Administration has allowed millions of passengers to fly in and out of Bob Hope Airport in spite of a so-called “unsafe” terminal location.

Construction bids for a new transit center and parking structure at Bob Hope Airport came in under budget this week, a reversal in fortune for a project that was put on a diet last year after the first round of building proposals came in at far more than anticipated. In June, the so-called intermodal transit center - which will include facilities for rental cars and rail and bus lines to better connect passengers to the terminal - was scaled down after bids for the project came in $47 million to $75 million above the originally projected cost of $112 million.