Joining in the massive preparations Long Beach will undertake as it becomes one of the largest epicenters for the upcoming 2028 Summer Games, the Long Beach Airport will be undertaking its biggest improvement project since its year-long terminal update.
The Passenger Concourse Enhancements Project—approved by the City Council back in 2024 and garnering its contractor last year—is a $37M endeavor. It will primarily focus on expanding passenger space and upgrading essential systems. That ranges from electrical and plumbing systems to security and mechanical systems. And it has formally broken ground,
“This is about preparing Long Beach Airport for the future,” said Airport Director Cynthia Guidry in a press release. “All the while enhancing the experience travelers know and love today. From upgraded seating and improved passenger flow to modernized infrastructure behind the scenes, these improvements will help ensure LGB remains one of the most comfortable and convenient airports in the country.”
Wait—what is the Passenger Concourse Enhancements Project at the Long Beach Airport?
The project centers on modernizing the airport’s Passenger Concourse. That includes the North Concourse, South Concourse, and the central Garden Area, with a broad emphasis on improving how travelers move through the terminal. Planned upgrades aim to increase passenger-throughput efficiency by reworking seating layouts. Circulation paths. Upgrading queuing areas. All this while also introducing updated wayfinding and improved flight and gate information systems.
The work will include both interior and exterior modifications, alongside upgrades to mechanical, electrical, plumbing, information technology, and security systems. A new post-security Service Animal Relief Area is also part of the plan. In the Garden Area, proposed improvements include expanded hardscape seating beneath a hard-lid canopy, additional lighting, fabric shade structures, a performance stage, and a new public announcement system.
Additional elements of the project include refurbished restrooms, upgraded seating with built-in electrical charging, and new gate podiums. The scope also calls for replacing the terminal’s backup generator and extending the airside pedestrian canopy to better serve passengers boarding and deplaning at Pad 11, the airport’s northernmost aircraft parking position.
Initially, the southern part of the concourse was also set to receive an expanded open-air area. However, that part of the project has been pushed back until further financial analysis is considered.
Why the Long Beach Airport is such an important gem not just for the city, but for the region.
Long Beach Airport has long occupied a singular place in California architecture: a rare civic building—the oldest municipal airport in the state—where prewar design and contemporary public space coexist without one overwhelming the other. The Passenger Concourse Enhancements Project is a part of that.
Its 1941 terminal—designed by architects William Horace Austin and Kenneth Smith Wing—remains one of the clearest surviving examples of Streamline Moderne civic architecture in the region: Its rounded forms. Horizontal lines. Terrazzo floors. WPA-era mosaics by artist Grace Clements. All define the airport’s historic identity.
Rather than bury that history beneath expansion, the city’s 2012 terminal overhaul deliberately used it as the organizing principle: Long Beach-based Studio One Eleven designed two low-slung concourses around an open-air palm garden. It was wildly antithetical to nearly every airport design worldwide. It preserved the airport’s prewar ease while introducing a modern passenger flow that feels closer to a civic courtyard than a conventional enclosed terminal.Â
Then came the awards for Long Beach Airport…
That design decision quickly drew national and international attention. The concourse renovation earned the California Transportation Foundation’s Aviation Project of the Year award in 2013, followed by a Gold Nugget Award of Merit and a Long Beach Heritage Preservation Award for the broader restoration effort.
Internationally, the airport was named one of the world’s ten most beautiful airports by the BBC. (And that is remarkable given it was the only American airport on that list at the time.) Domestic travel publications repeatedly ranked it among the nation’s best airports, often citing the unusual blend of climate-responsive design, outdoor circulation, and local architectural character.
And just last year, the Washington Post named the airport the second best in the nation.
Way to stick the landing, Long Beach Airport.
