![LAX-International-checkin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/LAX-International-checkin.JPG)
An airport terminal is a building at an
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
.
Within the terminal, passengers purchase tickets, transfer their luggage, and go through security. The buildings that provide access to the airplanes (via
gates
Gates is the plural of gate, a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. It may also refer to:
People
* Gates (surname), various people with the last name
* Gates Brown (1939-2013), American Major League Baseball player
* Gates McFadde ...
) are typically called concourses. However, the terms "terminal" and "concourse" are sometimes used interchangeably, depending on the configuration of the airport.
Smaller airports have one terminal while larger airports have several terminals and/or concourses. At small airports, the single terminal building typically serves all of the functions of a terminal and a concourse.
Some larger airports have one terminal that is connected to multiple concourses via walkways, sky-bridges, or tunnels (such as
Denver International Airport
Denver International Airport , locally known as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , it is the largest airport in ...
, modeled after
Atlanta's, the
world's busiest), or
Orlando International Airport
Orlando International Airport is a major public airport located 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Downtown Orlando, Florida. In 2021, it handled 19,618,838 passengers, making it the busiest airport in the state and seventh busiest airport i ...
(modeled after
Tampa's). Some larger airports have more than one terminal, each with one or more concourses (such as New York's
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...
, which has six, and London's
Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
and Chicago's
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, ...
, which both have four). Still other larger airports have multiple terminals each of which incorporate the functions of a concourse (such as
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport , also known as DFW Airport, is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas Region in the U.S. state of Texas.
It is the largest hub for American Air ...
or
Philadelphia International Airport
Philadelphia International Airport is the primary airport serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The airport served 19.6 million passengers annually in 2021, making it the 21st busiest airport in the United States. The airport is located from t ...
).
According to ''Frommers'', "most airport terminals are built in a plain style, with the concrete boxes of the 1960s and 1970s generally gave way to glass boxes in the 1990s and 2000s, with the best terminals making a vague stab at incorporating ideas of "light" and "air"'. However, some, such as
Baghdad International Airport
Baghdad International Airport , previously Saddam International Airport ( ar, مطار بغداد الدولي, Maṭār Baġdād ad-Dawaliyy) is Iraq's largest international airport, located in a suburb about west of downtown Baghdad in the ...
and
Denver International Airport
Denver International Airport , locally known as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , it is the largest airport in ...
, are monumental in stature, while others are considered architectural masterpieces, such as Terminal 1 at
Charles de Gaulle Airport
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...
, near
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, the main terminal at
Washington Dulles
Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and F ...
in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, or the
TWA Flight Center
The TWA Flight Center, also known as the Trans World Flight Center, is an airport terminal and hotel complex at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The original terminal building, or head house, operated as a terminal ...
at New York's JFK Airport. A few are designed to reflect the culture of a particular area, some examples being the terminal at
Albuquerque International Sunport
Albuquerque International Sunport is the primary international airport serving the U.S. state of New Mexico, the Albuquerque metropolitan area, and the larger Albuquerque– Santa Fe– Las Vegas combined statistical area. It handles around ...
in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
, which is designed in the
Pueblo Revival
The Pueblo Revival style or Santa Fe style is a regional architectural style of the Southwestern United States, which draws its inspiration from Santa Fe de Nuevo México's traditional Pueblo architecture, the Spanish missions, and Territor ...
style popularized by
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
John Gaw Meem
John Gaw Meem IV (November 17, 1894 – August 4, 1983) was an American architect based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is best known for his instrumental role in the development and popularization of the Pueblo Revival Style and as a proponent of ar ...
, as well as the terminal at
Bahías de Huatulco International Airport
Bahías de Huatulco International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional de Bahías de Huatulco) is an international airport located at Huatulco, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The airport handles national and international air traffic for the ...
in
Huatulco
Huatulco (; ''wah-TOOL-coh''), formally Bahías de Huatulco, centered on the town of La Crucecita, is a tourist development in Mexico. It is located on the Pacific coast in the state of Oaxaca. Huatulco's tourism industry is centered on its nine ...
,
Oaxaca
Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, which features some
palapas that are interconnected to form the airport terminal."
When
London Stansted Airport's new terminal opened in 1991, it marked a shift in airport terminal design since
Norman Foster
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Nor ...
placed the baggage handling system in the basement in order to create a vast open interior space. Airport architects have followed this model since unobstructed sightlines aid with passenger orientation. In some cases, architects design the terminal's ceiling and flooring with cues that suggest the required directional flow. For instance, at
Toronto Pearson's Terminal 1
Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie ( he, משה ספדיה; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author, with Israeli, Canadian, and American citizenship. He is known for incorporating principles of socially responsible des ...
included skylights for wayfinding purposes.
History
In the early history of air flight, airlines checked in their passengers at downtown terminals, and had their own transportation facilities to the airfield. For example,
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
checked in passengers at the Invalides Air Terminal (
Aérogare des Invalides
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
) from 1946 to 1961, when all passengers started checking in at the airport. The Air Terminal continued in service as the boarding point for airline buses until 2016.
Chicago's
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, ...
's innovative design pioneered concepts such as direct highway access to the airport, concourses, and
jetbridge
A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...
s; these designs are now seen at most airports worldwide.
Designs
Due to the rapid rise in popularity of passenger flight, many early terminals were built in the 1930s–1940s and reflected the popular
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style architecture of the time. One such surviving example from 1940 is the
Houston Municipal Airport Terminal. Early airport terminals opened directly onto the
tarmac Tarmac may refer to:
Engineered surfaces
* Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902
* Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...
: passengers would walk or take a bus to their aircraft. This design is still common among smaller airports, and even many larger airports have "bus gates" to accommodate aircraft beyond the main terminal.
Pier
A pier design uses a small, narrow building with aircraft parked on both sides. One end connects to a ticketing and
baggage claim
200px, Baggage carousel
In airport terminals, a baggage reclaim area is an area where arriving passengers claim checked-in baggage after disembarking from an airline flight. The alternative term baggage claim is used at airports in the US and ...
area. Piers offer high aircraft capacity and simplicity of design, but often result in a long distance from the check-in counter to the gate (up to half a mile in the cases of
Kansai International Airport
Kansai International Airport ( ja, 関西国際空港, Kansai Kokusai Kūkō) commonly known as is the primary international airport in the Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and ...
or
Lisbon Portela Airport
Humberto Delgado Airport , informally Lisbon Airport and formally Portela Airport, is an international airport located northeast of the city centre of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The airport is the main international gateway to Portugal. ...
's Terminal 1). Most large international airports have piers.
Satellite terminals
![BCIA Aerial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/BCIA_Aerial.jpg)
A satellite terminal is a building detached from other airport buildings, so that aircraft can park around its entire circumference. The first airport to use a satellite terminal was
London Gatwick Airport. It used an underground pedestrian tunnel to connect the satellite to the main terminal. This was also the first setup at
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...
, but it has since been converted to a pier layout. The first airport to use an automatic
people mover
A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...
to connect the main terminal with a satellite was
Tampa International Airport
Tampa International Airport is an international airport west of Downtown Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (HCAA)., effective December 30, 2021. T ...
, which is the standard today. The world's largest satellite terminal is Terminal S1 and S2 at
Shanghai Pudong International Airport
Shanghai Pudong International Airport is one of two international airports serving Shanghai and a major aviation hub of East Asia. Pudong Airport serves both international flights and a smaller number of domestic fights, while the city's othe ...
. The 622,000 square meter 90 gate terminal is connected to the main terminal by a high capacity
people mover
A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...
using conventional subway trains. Other examples include the following:
* Montreal's
Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
has terminal section called Aeroquai connected by walkways and it's used mostly for short haul regional domestic flights and some International departures when there's no gates available.
* Paris's
Charles de Gaulle Airport
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...
(Terminal 1),
Geneva International Airport and
London Gatwick Airport (South Terminal) have circular satellite terminals, connected by walkways.
*
Lisbon Internacional Airport (Terminal 2) has a small rectangular satellite terminal, connect by a free shuttle service (accessible by Terminal 1, every 10 minutes).
*
Orlando International Airport
Orlando International Airport is a major public airport located 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Downtown Orlando, Florida. In 2021, it handled 19,618,838 passengers, making it the busiest airport in the state and seventh busiest airport i ...
and
Pittsburgh International Airport
Pittsburgh International Airport , formerly Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, is a civil–military international airport in Findlay Township and Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Located about 10 miles (15 km) west of downtown Pittsbur ...
have multi-pier satellite terminals.
*
Brussels Airport
Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Bruss ...
's
Pier
image:Brighton Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England-2Oct2011 (1).jpg, Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.
A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of ...
A is connected to the main building via tunnels and
walkways
In American English, walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails.
''The New Oxford American Dictionary'' also defines a walkway as "a passage or path for walking along, esp. a ...
.
*
Zurich Airport
Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switze ...
's Midfield Terminal (Concourse E) is connected to the main terminal via an underground
Skymetro
The Zurich Airport Skymetro is an underground airport people mover at Zurich Airport in Switzerland. The long system connects the airport's main ''Airside Center'', ''Gates A, B and D'' with its mid-field ''Gates E'', passing underneath Runwa ...
.
*
London Gatwick Airport's Pier 6 (North Terminal) connects to the main terminal via the world's longest over-taxiway bridge.
* At
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partially ...
in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Terminal A has two sections of gates, one of which is a satellite terminal connected by an underground walkway.
*
Denver International Airport
Denver International Airport , locally known as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , it is the largest airport in ...
,
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is a public international airport located in Hebron, Kentucky, United States. It serves the Cincinnati tri-state area. The airport's code, CVG, is derived from the nearest city at the time o ...
, and
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport have linear satellite terminals connected by central passages. This design originated with Atlanta and was selected for the Denver airport terminals when the new airport in Denver was built. The linear satellite terminals are connected by automatic people movers. Atlanta's is called the
Plane Train. In the Atlanta and Cincinnati airports, underground moving walkways also connect the linear satellite terminals. At Denver there is an indoor bridge from the main terminal to the first satellite terminal, but there is no walkway to the remaining satellite terminals.
* At
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, ...
, Terminal 1 comprises Concourses B and C. Concourse B is adjacent to the airport road and houses
United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. passenger check-in, baggage claim and security screening landside and aircraft gates on the airside, while Concourse C is a satellite building connected by an underground walkway lit with a neon light show, and an airy and very slow-tempo version of the United theme music "
Rhapsody in Blue
''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition written by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work premiered i ...
".
* Terminal 8 at
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...
in
New York has two concourses: one main concourse, and a satellite concourse connected to the main concourse by an underground walkway.
*
London Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London.
London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...
has one main terminal building with three linear satellite terminals all connected to the main terminal by an automated people mover. The airport is currently expanding by adding another satellite building.
*
Kuala Lumpur International Airport
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is Malaysia's main international airport. It is located in the Sepang District of Selangor, approximately south of Kuala Lumpur and serves the city's greater conurbation.
KLIA is the largest and b ...
has a cross-shaped satellite terminal which is used for international flights.
*
Cancun International Airport Terminal 2 is an irregular terminal with two concourses, Main building and Satellite building, the latter one being the satellite terminal.
*
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has two rectangular satellite terminals connected by
automatic people movers.
*
Jinnah International Airport
Jinnah International Airport ( ur, جناح بین الاقوامی ہوائی اڈا) , formerly Drigh Road Airport or Karachi Civil Airport, is Pakistan's busiest international and domestic airport, and handled 7,267,582 passengers in 2017 ...
in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
has one main terminal, divided into two concourses: the Jinnah East Satellite Concourse, used for international flights, and the Jinnah West Satellite Concourse, used for domestic and some international flights. Both satellite concourses are connected to the main terminals by pedestrian walkways.
*
Harry Reid International Airport
Harry Reid International Airport is an international airport in Paradise, Nevada, and is the main government airport for public use in the Las Vegas Valley, a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Nevada, about south of Downtown Las Vegas. ...
in Las Vegas has an X-shaped satellite terminal, named Concourse D, that is connected by two
automatic people movers - one from Terminal 1 (which houses Concourses A, B, and C) and one from Terminal 3 (which houses Concourse E). In addition, despite being part of Terminal 1, Concourse C is connected to the rest of the terminal by an automatic people mover. Concourse D is connected to Terminal 3 by an underground walkway that is only used for international arrivals.
*
Mariano Escobedo International Airport is the first and only airport in Mexico which has a completely satellite terminal. Terminal A is connected from the main building to the satellite building via tunnels.
*
Terminal 5 at
London Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the Airports of London, London airport sys ...
has two satellite terminals, 5B, and 5C, connected via an underground people mover.
*
Rome Fiumicino Airport
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
has one satellite terminal, called T3G, connected by a
Bombardier Innovia APM 100
The Innovia APM 100 (formerly known as the CX-100) is an automated people mover (APM) rolling stock first developed by Westinghouse (later Adtranz, Bombardier Transportation, and now Alstom), intended mainly for airport connections and light ...
.
*
Madrid–Barajas Airport has one linear satellite terminal, named T4S, which is connected to the Terminal 4 main building by an automated people mover.
* Both midfield terminals at
Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Eastern United States, loc ...
use this design, with Concourses A, B, and C being connected to the main terminal by the
AeroTrain Aerotrain may refer to:
* Aérotrain, a hovercraft train developed in France
* AeroTrain, an tiltrotor aircraft proposed by Karem Aircraft
* Aerotrain (GM), a passenger train built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division
* AeroTrain (Washington ...
, and Concourse D via a
mobile lounge
A mobile lounge is a system for boarding and disembarking from aircraft using a bus-like vehicle.
Purpose
The mobile lounge was an innovative feature of the Washington Dulles terminal design by Eero Saarinen. Saarinen promoted the mobile lounge ...
service. There is also an underground walkway from the main terminal to Concourse B.
*
Munich Airport
Munich International Airport- Franz Josef Strauß (german: link=no, Flughafen München) is an international airport serving Munich and Upper Bavaria. It is the second-busiest airport in Germany in terms of passenger traffic after Frankfurt A ...
has one satellite terminal, named Satellite Terminal 2 (commonly known as "der Satellit" in German), which is connected to the Terminal 2 by an underground automated people mover.
* Terminal E at
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport , also known as DFW Airport, is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas Region in the U.S. state of Texas.
It is the largest hub for American Air ...
has a small satellite concourse, accessed by an underground pedestrian walkway. The Terminal E Satellite currently has 9 gates, but in April 2018, it was announced by DFW Airport and American Airlines that the 9 mainline gates would be converted into 15 regional gates, along with updating interior fixtures such as carpet, elevators, escalators and moving walkways. American plans to have renovations completed and be fully moved into the terminal in Spring 2019. Terminal B also has a satellite concourse, albeit with ten mainline gates.
*
Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand has a satellite terminal in its Phase II extension which is currently under construction and it is due for completion by 2022.
*
Chennai International Airport
Chennai International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu and its metropolitan area. It is located in Tirusulam, southwest of the city centre. Chennai International Airport is the sixth busiest airpo ...
started construction of satellite terminal which is slated for completion by 2022.
Semicircular terminals
![Soekarno-Hatta Airport aerial view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Soekarno-Hatta_Airport_aerial_view.jpg)
Some airports use a semicircular terminal, with aircraft parked on one side and cars on the other. This design results in long walks for connecting passengers, but greatly reduces travel times between check-in and the aircraft. Airports designed around this model include
Charles de Gaulle Airport
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...
(terminal 2),
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is an international airport serving Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). It is the second busiest airport in the country in terms of total and international passenger traffic af ...
,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
(old terminal 2),
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport , also known as DFW Airport, is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas Region in the U.S. state of Texas.
It is the largest hub for American Air ...
, Seoul's
Incheon International Airport
Incheon International Airport (IIA; ) (sometimes referred to as Seoul–Incheon International Airport) is the largest airport in South Korea. It is the primary airport serving the Seoul Capital Area and one of the largest and busiest airports ...
, Jakarta's
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (terminal 1 & 2),
Toronto Pearson Airport,
Kansas City Airport, Nairobi's
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport , is an international airport in Nairobi, the capital of and largest city in Kenya. The other three important international airports in Kenya include the Kisumu International Airport,
Moi International Airp ...
,
Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport
Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil.
Rio or Río may also refer to:
Geography Brazil
* Rio de Janeiro
* Rio do Sul, a ...
and Sapporo's
New Chitose Airport
is an international airport located south-southeast of Chitose and Tomakomai, Hokkaidō, Japan, serving the Sapporo metropolitan area. By both traffic and land area, it is the largest airport in Hokkaidō.
It is adjacent to Chitose Air Ba ...
.
Other
A particularly unusual design was employed at
Berlin Tegel Airport
Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Berlin-Tegel „Otto Lilienthal“) was the primary international airport of Berlin, the federal capital of Germany. The airport was named after aviation pioneer Otto Lilienth ...
's Terminal A. Consisting of an hexagonal-shaped ring around a courtyard, five of the outer walls were airside and fitted with jet bridges, while the sixth (forming the entrance), along with the inner courtyard, was landside. Although superficially resembling a satellite design insofar as aircraft could park around most of the structure, it was in fact a self-contained terminal which unlike a satellite did not depend on remote buildings for facilities such as check-in, security controls, arrivals etc.
Especially unique were its exceptionally short walking distances and lack of any central area for security, passport control, arrivals or transfer. Instead, individual check-in counters are located immediately in front of the gate of the flight they serve. Checked-in passengers then entered airside via a short passage situated immediately to the side of the check-in desk, passed (for
non-Schengen flights) a single passport control booth (with officers sat in the same area as check-in staff), followed by a single security lane which terminated at the gate's waiting area behind. Pairs of gates shared the same seating area, with small kiosks for duty-free and refreshments making up the only airside commercial offerings. Thus, other than the adjacent gate, passengers could not move around the terminal airside and there was no central waiting lounge and retail area for departures. Individual rooms for arrivals, likewise serving a pair of gates, each contained a single baggage carousel and were alternately situated in between each pair of departure gates on the same level, such that the entrance/exit of each jet bridge lied at the boundary of the two areas. Two or three passport control booths were located close to the end of the jet bridge for arriving passengers (causing passengers to queue into the bridge and plane itself) and passengers left the arrivals area unsegregated from departing passengers into the same landside ring-concourse, emerging next to the check-in desks. This allowed both arriving and departing passengers immediate access to the courtyard on the same level, where short-stay parking and taxi-pickup were located. Vehicles could enter and exit via a road underpass underneath the terminal building entrance.
For flights using jet-bridges and passengers arriving or leaving by private transport, this resulted in extremely short walking distances of just a few tens of metres between vehicles and the plane, with only a slightly longer walk for public transport connections. A downside of this design is a lack of any provision for transfer flights, with passengers only able to transit landside.
Another rarer terminal design is the
mobile lounge
A mobile lounge is a system for boarding and disembarking from aircraft using a bus-like vehicle.
Purpose
The mobile lounge was an innovative feature of the Washington Dulles terminal design by Eero Saarinen. Saarinen promoted the mobile lounge ...
, where passengers are transported from the gate to their aircraft in a large vehicle which docks directly to the terminal and the aircraft.
Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Eastern United States, loc ...
,
Mexico City International Airport, and
Mirabel International Airport have used this design.
Hybrid layouts also exist.
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...
and
Melbourne Airport
Melbourne Airport , colloquially known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne, and the second busiest airport in Australia. It opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is ...
use a hybrid pier-semicircular layout and a pier layout for the rest.
Common-use facility
A common-use facility or terminal design disallows airlines to have its own proprietary check-in counters, gates and IT systems. Rather, check-in counters and gates can be flexibly reassigned as needed. This is used at
Boston Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partial ...
's Terminal E.
McGraw-Hill Construction , ENR – Next Phase of Baggage Screening Goes In-line, Out ofView
. Enr.construction.com (2003-12-15). Retrieved on 2013-04-09.
Records
This table below lists the top airport terminals throughout the world with the largest amount of floor area, with usable floor space across multiple stories of at least .
Ground transportation
Many small and mid-size airports have a single, two, or three-lane one-way loop road which is used by local private vehicles and buses to drop off and pick up passengers.
An international airport may have two grade-separated one-way loop road
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
s, one for departures and one for arrivals. It may have a direct rail connection by regional rail
Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster serv ...
, light rail, or subway to the downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
or central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
of the closest major city. The largest airports may have direct connections to the closest freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
. The Hong Kong International Airport
Hong Kong International Airport is Hong Kong's main airport, built on reclaimed land on the island of Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or ''Chek Lap Kok Airport'', to distinguish ...
has ferry piers on the airside
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
for ferry connections to and from mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
and Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
without passing through Hong Kong immigration controls.
Zones
''Pre-Security'' (landside)
* Check-in counters
* Retail stores and restaurants
* Baggage claim
200px, Baggage carousel
In airport terminals, a baggage reclaim area is an area where arriving passengers claim checked-in baggage after disembarking from an airline flight. The alternative term baggage claim is used at airports in the US and ...
''Post Security'' (airside)
* Duty-free shop
A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, wh ...
s
* Retail stores and restaurants
* Airport lounge
An airport lounge is a facility operated at many airports. Airport lounges offer, for selected passengers, comforts beyond those afforded in the airport terminal itself, such as more comfortable seating, quieter environments, and often better acce ...
s
* Airport customs
See also
* Airport rail link
An airport rail link is a service providing passenger rail transport from an airport to a nearby city by mainline or commuter trains, rapid transit, people mover, or light rail. Direct links operate straight to the airport terminal, while o ...
* Environmental impact of aviation
Like other emissions resulting from fossil fuel combustion, aircraft engines produce gases, noise, and particulates, raising environmental concerns over their global effects and their effects on local air quality.
Jet airliners contribute to ...
* International zone
An international zone is any area not fully subject to the border control policies of the state in which it is located. There are several types of international zones ranging from special economic zones and sterile zones at ports of entry exe ...
References
External links
{{Commercial air travel
pt:Aeródromo#Conceitos