Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2023

DIREC TOR’ S CHA IR

Left: A new facility is in the works to replace the aging terminal, but local restrictions will limit the new terminal to 14 gates, just as in the current terminal.

not open a 2023 terminal building in 2026. We’re asking - how can we be as flexible as possible? How do we address the technology needs? We have subject matter experts for technology and for concessions, and we’re working very closely with the TSA. All of those planning discussions are on the table all the time. WARD: On the concessions front, how are your concessions doing? Have they recovered along with your traffic? MILLER: They are recovering. When we have conversations with our food and beverage operator, he clearly is very pleased with the return of the business activity. Our retail is the same. We have Hudson operating on the retail side and MCS (Metropolitan Culinary Services) for food and beverage. Those contracts will be rebid in advance of the date of official occupancy of the new terminal, and the concessions will open along with the terminal building. WARD: Will the model remain the same, with one F&B operator and one retailer? MILLER: Yes, absolutely.

WARD: Will the new terminal be larger than the current one? MI LLER: There was a development agreement that was negotiated with the city of Burbank, which voters overwhelmingly approved. We are replacing a 14-gate terminal with a 14-gate terminal. There will be no additional gates, but the development agreement allowed us to build a slightly larger terminal than we have today. It’ll be capped at 355,000 square feet. The layout will be a lot more efficient and we’ll be able to.provide a level of service that can bring in some larger aircraft and add more seats in into the market. WARD: Is it too early to talk about bells and whistles in terms of technology or new concessions approaches? Have you thought those through yet? MILLER: We are doing that almost on a daily basis. We’re trying to design a building that’s f lexible and hopefully when it opens on October 1st of 2026, it’s as up to date as it can possibly be. I’ve made the comment more than once to staff and to our consultants: Let’s

WARD: Are there any new or unique initiatives at the airport that you’d like to discuss? MILLER: We have started an Airport Academy that [of fer s lea r ning opportunities to] 25 students and we have students from Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena. We are a tri-city, joint powers authority so we’re working with all of the unified school districts to help us identify students. They meet once a month for a five or six month period of time and get an idea of exactly what airports are all about. Everyone thinks it’s all about airfield and firefighting - we want them to understand that it goes well beyond that. There are business development opportunities, marketing and communications opportunities… The next step is to work with the school districts again to help us identify students that we might be able to bring in on an internship program. It’s very important that we can generate interest at the high school level, as they thinkabout going toauniversity. We are very focused on attracting young people to our industry.

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