The heightened security restrictions mandated last week by the Federal Aviation Administration are expected to dramatically affect leisure and business travel in and out of Burbank Airport and, to some degree, Van Nuys Airport. Both facilities were shut down immediately following last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. As of Friday, neither Burbank nor Van Nuys had reopened. However, limited flights for emergency services and charter planes were being allowed to take off and land. Because the Van Nuys Airport is a general aviation facility, there are no ticket counters or check-in requirements. Nor are there X-ray screening booths for passengers. But the new restrictions are expected to have a particularly strong impact on those passengers accustomed to the quick and dirty commute in and out of the Burbank Airport, primarily much longer lines at ticket counters and security checkpoints all of which will significantly take away the convenience factor that makes the airport a popular alternative to LAX. The new restrictions include: – Elimination of curbside passenger check-in – Elimination of electronic ticketing – Ban on friends and family beyond security gates – Reduced number of carry-on items – Random ID checks on the ground and in flight – Elimination of front-row parking spaces. According to Victor Gill, spokesman for the Burbank Airport, passengers accustomed to arriving 20 minutes or so before a flight departure may want to start giving themselves closer to an hour or an hour and a half. Carry-on bag limits are expected to drop from two to one per ticketed passenger and, although there will be no more curbside luggage check-in, Gill said skycap service will be available for passengers who need assistance getting their luggage from the street to the check-in counter. “The curbside check-in service is certainly going to be a minus in the convenience department,” said Gill. “It’s one of the time savers that people have grown to count on here at Burbank. But what this all means is that passengers will begin having to get themselves accustomed to a new framework for travel.” Curbside passenger pickup and drop off has not been discontinued. However, drivers can expect longer delays on the airport roadway and greater scrutiny by an enhanced law enforcement presence. Passengers can also expect random security checks at check-in counters, in the terminal waiting areas and even aboard their flights. No one is certain whether the changes are permanent or will ease as time goes by. Many speculate the FAA will be adding to the list additions that, considering the ease with which terrorists managed to board plans on the East Coast, will undoubtedly call for tougher screening and training requirements for airport security personnel. Those workers are said to be among the lowest-paid aviation industry employees, with an average annual turnover rate of as much as 100 percent in some airports across the country. Knives are now banned on airplanes, as are other instruments that could be considered dangerous. And, said Gill, that means travelers will have to think much more carefully about how they pack for a flight, since even a pair of scissors could be construed as a weapon and result in delays. Gill said the heightened measures at Burbank’s two screening gates would slow things down somewhat, but lines should be shorter since family and friends will no longer be able to accompany passengers to their gates or meet incoming flights. Roughly 5 million passengers pass through the Burbank terminal each year. Melanie Jones, spokeswoman for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, one of the five commercial airliners that fly in and out of Burbank, said Thursday the company was still grappling with getting grounded passengers to their destinations as the FAA slowly began to clear flights for takeoff around the country. She said Southwest would be implementing “any new restrictions the FAA demands” but, until they make clear what those demands are concerning security staff, she could not comment on specifics for Burbank, including how many security screeners the airline employs and how many would be added. Burbank City Manger Robert “Bud” Ovrom said the Burbank Police Department sent a six-man “special security detail” team to the airport on the day of the attacks to augment the security presence there. But the city, he said, cannot afford to keep those officers at the airport indefinitely. So, in a rare show of solidarity, the cities of Glendale and Pasadena have offered to send their own detail teams to help fill the gaps. “For the long haul, having those extra police personnel at the airport would be a drain on us,” Ovrom said. The FAA has also required all airports to eliminate the front rows of parking spaces in lots next to terminals and Burbank expects to lose roughly 60 of its short-term parking spaces. However, Gill said, those losses could also be offset by the elimination of visitors to the concourse. The short-term lot has 433 spaces, and there are an additional 140 ground-level spaces for short-term parking outside the main short-term parking structure. The valet parking structure opposite the United Airlines terminal will also lose about 100 spaces over the next few days, Gill said. Passengers, including mid-week travelers who use the short-term lots, are being urged to use remote parking lots A, B and C. Van Nuys Airport, run by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), has been ranked the busiest general aviation airport in the world, with an average of 1,500 takeoffs and landings each day. There are roughly 800 aircraft based at Van Nuys, including 52 helicopters, 128 jets, 27 turbo props and 531 piston aircraft. According to Curt Castagna, president of the Van Nuys Airport Association and owner of Aerolease & Aeroplex Group, which runs several charter companies at the airport, each of the privately owned operators there is in discussions on how to beef up security beyond that already supplied by the 24-hour security team provided by LAWA. “Obviously as a result of what’s happened, we’ve been revisiting our procedures and there may be some more requirements coming as the FAA sets out more guidelines for facilities like ours,” Castagna said.