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An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an aircraft.
Within the terminal, passengers purchase tickets, transfer their luggage, and go through security. The buildings that provide access to the airplanes (via gates) 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, modeled after Atlanta's, the world's busiest), or Orlando International Airport (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, which has five, and London's Heathrow Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, 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 or Philadelphia International Airport).
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 and Denver International Airport, are monumental in stature, while others are considered architectural masterpieces, such as Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport, near Paris, the main terminal at Washington Dulles in Virginia, or the TWA Flight Center 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 in New Mexico, which is designed in the Pueblo Revival style popularized by architect John Gaw Meem, as well as the terminal at Bahías de Huatulco International Airport in Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico, which features some palapas that are interconnected to form the airport terminal." [1] [2]
When London Stansted Airport's new terminal opened in 1991, it marked a shift in airport terminal design since Norman Foster placed the baggage handling system in the basement in order to create a vast open interior space. [3] 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. [4] For instance, at Toronto Pearson's Terminal 1 Moshe Safdie included skylights for wayfinding purposes.
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 checked in passengers at the Invalides Air Terminal (Aérogare des Invalides) 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. [5]
Chicago's O'Hare International Airport's innovative design pioneered concepts such as direct highway access to the airport, concourses, and jetbridges; these designs are now seen at most airports worldwide. [6]
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 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: 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.
A pier design uses a small, narrow building with aircraft parked on both sides. One end connects to a ticketing and baggage claim 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 or Lisbon Portela Airport's Terminal 1). Most large international airports have piers.
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, but it has since been converted to a pier layout. The first airport to use an automatic people mover to connect the main terminal with a satellite was Tampa International Airport, which is the standard today. The world's largest satellite terminal is Terminal S1 and S2 at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The 622,000 square meter 90 gate terminal is connected to the main terminal by a high capacity people mover using conventional subway trains. [8] Other examples include the following:
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 (terminal 2), Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai (old terminal 2), Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Seoul's Incheon International Airport, Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (terminal 1 & 2), Toronto Pearson Airport, Kansas City International Airport (has been replaced by pier terminal), Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport and Sapporo's New Chitose Airport.
A particularly unusual design was employed at Berlin Tegel Airport'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, 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, Mexico City International Airport, and Mirabel International Airport have used this design.
Hybrid layouts also exist. San Francisco International Airport and Melbourne Airport use a hybrid pier-semicircular layout and a pier layout for the rest.
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's Terminal E. [9] [10]
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 400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft).
Name | Country and territory | Place/City | Floor area | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 | United Arab Emirates | Dubai | 1,713,000 m2 (18,440,000 sq ft) | Three buildings connected by tunnels |
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Terminal 1-2 complex | China | Guangzhou | 1,561,000 m2 (16,800,000 sq ft) | World's largest airport terminal under one single roof [11] |
Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 | China | Beijing | 986,000 m2 (10,610,000 sq ft) | Three buildings connected by train [12] |
King Abdulaziz International Airport Terminal 1 | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah | 810,000 m2 (8,700,000 sq ft) | [13] |
Abu Dhabi International Airport Terminal A | United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | 780,000 m2 (8,400,000 sq ft) | Opened in November 2023 [14] |
Hamad International Airport | Qatar | Doha | 725,000 m2 (7,800,000 sq ft) | Terminal area formally 600,000m2 before extension [15] |
Beijing Daxing International Airport Terminal | China | Beijing | 700,000 m2 (7,500,000 sq ft) | [16] |
Shanghai Pudong International Airport Satellite Concourse | China | Shanghai | 622,000 m2 (6,700,000 sq ft) | World's largest stand-alone satellite terminal [17] |
Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 1 | Hong Kong | Chek Lap Kok | 570,000 m2 (6,100,000 sq ft) | [18] |
Suvarnabhumi Airport | Thailand | Bangkok | 563,000 m2 (6,060,000 sq ft) | [19] |
Kunming Changshui International Airport | China | Kunming | 548,300 m2 (5,902,000 sq ft) | [20] |
Barcelona Airport Terminal 1 | Spain | Barcelona | 544,000 m2 (5,860,000 sq ft) | [21] |
Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport Terminal 3A | China | Chongqing | 530,000 m2 (5,700,000 sq ft) | [22] |
Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal 3 | India | Delhi | 502,000 m2 (5,400,000 sq ft) | [23] |
Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 | South Korea | Seoul | 496,000 m2 (5,340,000 sq ft) | [24] |
Wuhan Tianhe International Airport Terminal 3 | China | Wuhan | 495,000 m2 (5,330,000 sq ft) | [25] |
Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport | China | Qingdao | 478,000 m2 (5,150,000 sq ft) | [26] |
Barajas Airport Terminal 4 main building | Spain | Madrid | 470,000 m2 (5,100,000 sq ft) | [27] |
Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport Terminal 3 | China | Shenzhen | 459,000 m2 (4,940,000 sq ft) | [28] |
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Terminal 2 | India | Mumbai | 450,000 m2 (4,800,000 sq ft) | [29] |
Narita International Airport Terminal 1 | Japan | Narita | 440,000 m2 (4,700,000 sq ft) | [30] |
Soekarno–Hatta International Airport Terminal 3 | Indonesia | Jakarta | 422,804 m2 (4,551,020 sq ft) | [31] |
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.
A large hub airport often have two grade-separated one-way loop roads, one for departures and one for arrivals. It may have a direct rail connection by regional rail, light rail, or subway to the downtown or central business district of the closest major city. The largest airports may have direct connections to the closest freeway. The Hong Kong International Airport has ferry piers on the airside for ferry connections to and from mainland China and Macau without passing through Hong Kong immigration controls.
Pre-Security (landside)
Post Security (airside)
Washington Dulles International Airport is an international airport in Loudoun County and Fairfax County in Northern Virginia, United States, 26 miles (42 km) west of downtown Washington, D.C.
Tijuana International Airport ; officially Aeropuerto Internacional General Abelardo L. Rodríguez(General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport), is an international airport located 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northeast of Downtown Tijuana. It serves Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and the Metropolitan Area of San Diego-Tijuana, home to a population of five million inhabitants. The airport serves an extensive network of 42 domestic destinations including most of the major and secondary cities across Mexico. It is a hub for Volaris and a focus city for Viva Aerobus. Additionally, the airport houses facilities for the Mexican Air Force and supports cargo flights, tourism, flight training, and general aviation activities. Operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, the airport is named after General Abelardo L. Rodríguez, President of Mexico from 1932 to 1934. It is Mexico's westernmost airport and second-northernmost airport after Mexicali International Airport.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is Malaysia's main international airport. It is located in the Sepang District of Selangor, approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) south of Kuala Lumpur and serves the city's greater conurbation.
Dubai International Airport is the primary and is a major international airport serving Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the world's busiest airport by international passenger traffic. It is also the second-busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic, the busiest airport for Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 movements, and the airport with the highest average number of passengers per flight. In 2023, the airport handled 87 million passengers and 1.81 million tonnes of cargo and registered 416,405 aircraft movements.
Frankfurt Airport, German: Flughafen Frankfurt Main, is Germany's main international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. In the German Aeronautical Information Publication, its name is Frankfurt Main Airport. The airport is operated by Fraport and serves as the main hub for Lufthansa, including Lufthansa CityLine and Lufthansa Cargo as well as Condor and AeroLogic. It covers an area of 2,300 hectares of land and features two passenger terminals with capacity for approximately 65 million passengers per year; four runways; and extensive logistics and maintenance facilities.
Hong Kong International Airport is an international airport located on the island of Chek Lap Kok in western Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or Chek Lap Kok Airport, to distinguish it from its predecessor, the former Kai Tak Airport.
Pittsburgh International Airport, formerly Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, is a civil-military international airport in Findlay Township and Moon Township, Pennsylvania, United States. About 10 miles (15 km) west of downtown Pittsburgh, it is the primary international airport serving the Greater Pittsburgh Region as well as adjacent areas in West Virginia and Ohio. The airport is owned and operated by the Allegheny County Airport Authority and offers passenger flights to destinations throughout North America and Europe. PIT has four runways and covers 10,000 acres (40 km2).
Orlando International Airport is the primary international airport located 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of Downtown Orlando, Florida. In 2021, it had 19,618,838 enplanements, making it the busiest airport in the state and seventh busiest airport in the United States. The airport code MCO stands for the airport's former name, McCoy Air Force Base, a Strategic Air Command (SAC) installation, that was closed in 1975 as part of a general military drawdown following the end of the Vietnam War.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport, typically referred to as Charlotte Douglas, Douglas Airport, or simply CLT, is an international airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, located roughly six miles west of the city's central business district. Charlotte Douglas is the primary airport for commercial and military use in the Charlotte metropolitan area. Operated by the city of Charlotte's aviation department, the airport covers 5,558 acres of land.
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is the primary international airport serving Detroit and its surrounding metropolitan area in Michigan, United States. It is located in the City of Romulus and is Michigan's busiest airport.
Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Shenzhen in South Central China’s Guangdong province. It is on the east bank of the Pearl River near Huangtian and Fuyong villages in Bao'an District, 32 km (20 mi) northwest of the city centre. It is a hub for Shenzhen Airlines and Shenzhen Donghai Airlines and for cargo airline SF Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines. The airport also serves as an Asian-Pacific cargo hub for UPS Airlines. The airport underwent major expansions in the 2010s, with a second runway opening in 2011, and a new terminal in 2013.
Puerto Vallarta International Airport, officially Aeropuerto Internacional Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, is an international airport managing both domestic and international air traffic for Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. It serves as a gateway to the Mexican tourist destination of Riviera Nayarit and the Jalisco coast year-round, offering flights to and from Mexico, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The airport also houses facilities for the Mexican Army and supports various tourism, flight training, and general aviation activities. Operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, it is named after President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz.
The Changi Airport Skytrain is an automated people mover (APM) that connects Terminals 1, 2 and 3 at Singapore Changi Airport. Opened in 1990, it was the first driverless and automated system of its kind in South East Asia. The Changi Airport Skytrain operates from 05:00 to 02:30 daily. Traveling on the Skytrain is free and an inter-terminal journey takes approximately four minutes.
The Plane Train is a 24/7 automated people mover (APM) located at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Made by Westinghouse Electric Corporation and maintained by Bombardier, it transports passengers between the terminals and the airside concourses. The system is the world's most heavily traveled airport APM, with 64 million riders as of 2002.
AeroTrain is a 3.78-mile (6.08 km) underground automated people mover system at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Dulles, Virginia, United States.
Heathrow Terminal 5 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London. Opened in 2008, the main building in the complex is the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. Until 2012 the terminal was used solely by British Airways. It was then exclusively used as one of the three global hubs of IAG, served by British Airways and Iberia until 12 July 2022, when Iberia moved all flights to Terminal 3, leaving British Airways as sole user again.
Los Angeles International Airport has more than 150 gates in nine passenger terminals arranged in the shape of the letter U or a horseshoe. On the landside of the airport, LAX Shuttle route A buses allow passengers to move between all terminals. On the airside, various pedestrian corridors allow passengers to move between all terminals on foot without having to exit and reenter airport security. Additionally, by early 2025, the airport will be served by the LAX Automated People Mover, which will connect terminals to one another on the landside, along with providing connections to the LAX Consolidated Rent-A-Car Facility, parking facilities, and the LAX/Metro Transit Center station, which will be served by the Los Angeles Metro Rail system and public bus routes. In addition to these terminals, there are 2 million square feet (190,000 m2) of cargo facilities.
The Orlando International Airport People Movers are a set of automated people mover (APM) systems operating within Orlando International Airport. The four original people mover systems connect the airport's main terminal to four satellite airside concourses. A fifth AGT people mover system was installed in 2017 to connect the main terminal with the airport's new Intermodal Terminal.
The Tampa International Airport People Movers are a set of automated people mover systems operating within Tampa International Airport. The primary set of people movers are automated guideway transit (AGT) systems that connect the airport's main terminal to four satellite airside concourses. Opened in 1971, the landside/airside shuttles were the first people movers used to transport passengers within an airport terminal and it is today Bombardier Transportation's longest running people mover system. A fifth people mover line known as SkyConnect, which began operating in 2018, connects the main terminal with the airport's economy parking garage and rental car center. In addition, a monorail once connected the main terminal and the long-term parking garage from 1991 until its closure in 2020.
Shanghai Pudong Airport APM is an automated people mover in the Pudong International Airport. In the initial phase, there are two lines, each connecting a terminal building and a satellite hall. The two lines are planned to be connected after the completion of Terminal 3 in the future. The system uses Class A stocks, currently in a 4-car configuration, with conditions reserved for a 5-car configuration across the fleet.
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