New name takes off for Hollywood Burbank Airport

Known by previous aliases the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, United Airport, the Lockheed Air Terminal – affectionately known locally as simply the Burbank Airport – the airport in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank has announced a rebrand. Most latterly called the Bob Hope Airport, the new moniker for the oft-renamed aviation hub is the Hollywood Burbank Airport.

On Monday this week, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority announced the new name and brand. The unveiling revealed the new logo atop the airport’s control tower.

“An important part of creating this new identity was to give the terminal tower – the face of the airport –signage that instantly lets people know they’ve arrived in the Media Capital of the World,” airport executive director Frank Miller said.

Though Bob Hope is an iconic showman who was honoured by the local community with his namesake airport, the authority found that the name was not descriptive enough of place. The new name will help give travellers a better idea of where the airport is located, thus tying it more closely to the LA area for those from outside the region. In fact, the new name is a return to the old as the airport was once known as Hollywood Burbank Airport from 1967-1978.

Brand agency Anyone Collective worked with the airport authority on the new branding which uses a muted teal green and charcoal grey across the identity. Imagery of the airport supports the colour palette, evoking scenes of the San Fernando Valley in oranges, greens and greys. A new website has also been launched. The agency carried out interviews with travellers to the airport, frequent fliers across the US, airport employees and members of the community to inform the naming process.

First opened in 1930, the airport has lived through vast changes in the aviation landscape, and great change in the landscape of the city of Los Angeles as well. Now a thoroughly urban location with links to the entertainment industry, the site was once carved out of the orange groves that sprawled across the San Fernando Valley. Its two runways now serve 2.3m passengers per year and its two terminals have played host to numerous television and film shoots over the years.

The airport, always a favourite with locals, also imparts travellers with a sense of place through its use of the IATA code ‘BUR.’ Using Hollywood as an indicator of place should allow the airport to better identify with the entertainment industry outlets just minutes from its doors. “By telling passengers where we are, we’re telling them all the great things our airport and our community have to offer,” vice president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority and Glendale city council member Zareh Sinanyan says.