Safety
Safety at Hollywood Burbank Airport
The safety of our guests, staff, tenants and all stakeholders while they are at Hollywood Burbank Airport is our top priority.
Once our passengers are in planes that are taxiing and in flight (arriving or departing), safety is top priority for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Safety issues related to passengers, crews and aircraft while they occupy airspace are under the jurisdiction of the FAA.
Comments made by the chair of the NTSB during a Q&A session after a recent hearing on the 2025 DCA midair collision named Hollywood Burbank Airport a “safety hotspot”.
The FAA responded to the comment by explaining the work the agency has been doing to help alleviate the risks at Hollywood Burbank Airport and Van Nuys Airport that has been underway since immediately after the midair collision near DCA:
January 27, 2026
Office of Communications, FAA
“The FAA acted immediately to improve safety following the tragic midair collision, both at DCA and around the country. In February 2025, we began using innovative AI tools to identify similar hotspots with high volumes of mixed helicopter and airplane traffic and implement appropriate mitigations. One of our primary focus areas was Van Nuys Airport and nearby Hollywood Burbank Airport in the Los Angeles area.
Based on our safety analysis, the FAA lowered the Van Nuys traffic pattern by 200 feet during an evaluation in 2025 to see if that would reduce conflicts with aircraft landing at Burbank. Preliminary data indicated the change resulted in a reduction of Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) alerts for Burbank arrivals and we permanently lowered the Van Nuys traffic pattern effective Jan. 5, 2026.”
In the video below, Patrick Lammerding, Deputy Executive Director of Operations at Hollywood Burbank Airport, details the circumstances between Hollywood Burbank Airport and Van Nuys Airport. He further illustrates what the FAA has done over the past year to improve the safety margins and reduce the TCAS alerts that have been a potential concern raised by commercial pilots: