Long Beach Airport Celebrates Opening of a New Consolidated Baggage Claim
The Long Beach Airport (LGB) is currently working on phase two of its terminal area improvement program. The program consists of six projects: Component 1A: Checked Baggage Inspection System (CBIS); Component 2: Ticketing Lobby; Component 1B: Baggage Claim Area Improvements; Component 3A: Terminal Renovation Improvements; Component 3B: Rental Car Customer Service Improvements; Component 4: Meet and Greet Plaza.
Long Beach Airport Engineering Officer Stephan Lum said the overall goal for the program is purely to enhance the passenger experience.
“This program technically does not induce more flights, it doesn’t induce more activity. We’re slot regulated by our noise ordinance. So, the number of passengers and the number of commercial flights that we can put out daily is really dictated by that noise ordinance. This program is purely to make that passenger experience a little bit more enjoyable,” Lum said. “…And hopefully that’ll maintain our reputation of our easygoing airport. And passengers will still continue to choose us as a travel destination and their airport of choice. But that’s really the big message of phase two is that even though with all these enhancements and everything, we are still respectful of our noise ordinance.”
In 2017, the airport partnered with Swinerton Builders as the prime contractor and Corgan, the architect of record for this project.
Swinerton Operations Manager Jose Acosta said the project initially required Swinerton to submit three concepts. From those three concepts, the airport narrowed it down to the current design based on the different criteria they had, which was dictated by the EIR which has specific square footages for each component.
“So early on, one of the big challenges when it came to designing this project was really putting the program into a pre-established square footage that we could not go over. So that was the initial step,” Acosta said. “So, after the design concepts were developed and we finalized which one worked for us, we really worked close with engineering department to start the design.”
The program kicked off with the construction of 1A, the Checked Baggage Inspection System (CBIS) followed by the ticketing building which was completed in May.
The most recent completion, a new consolidated baggage claim opened April 13, 2023.
