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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.
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, a single terminal building typically serves all of the functions of a terminal and a concourse. Larger airports might have one terminal that is connected to multiple concourses or multiple unit terminals. [1]
By the end of the 20th century airport terminals became symbols of progress and trade, showcasing the aspirations of nations constructing them. [2] The buildings are also characterized by a very rapid pace of redevelopment, much higher that that for structures supporting other modes of transportation, eroding the boundary between the permanent and temporary construction. [3]
An airport might have multiple separate "unit terminals", in order, for example to separate the international travel from the domestic one, or provide the separate airlines with the ability to offer their own terminals. The unit terminals might use similar design (Dallas-Fort Worth Airport) or be completely different (Pearson International Airport). Use of multiple terminals typically requires an extensive network of automatic people movers. [1]
Terminals perform three main functions: [4]
Just like entire airports, the terminals are divided into landside and airside zones. Typically passengers and staff must be checked by airport security, and/or customs/border control before being permitted to enter the airside zone. Conversely, passengers arriving from an international flight must pass through border control and customs to access the landside area.
The landside-airside boundary became the defining element of the terminal architecture. [5] The functions that are performed on the landside, like ticketing and check-in, are relatively stable, while the airside is subject to rapid technological and operational changes. [6] Victor Marquez suggests that the boundary is not really an integral part of the airport functions, but a "socio-technical construct" that has gradually shaped the thinking of architects and planners. [7]
The passenger terminal is the main opportunity within the airport for architects to express themselves and a key element of the airport design. Brian Edwards compares the architectural role of the terminal in the airport to the one of a mall within a small town. [8]
Historically, airports were built in a variety of architectural styles, with the selection depending on the country: [9]
According to Frommers , "most airport terminals are built in a plain style,[ verification needed ] 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." [10] [11]
The first airfields, built in the early 20th century, did not have passengers and thus did not need the terminals. Large facilities were built, however, to house the fragile and inventive airships of the time protecting them from elements [12] and industrial spies. [13] Still, some of the concept architectural designs resembled the modern terminal buildings: Erich Mendelsohn’s sketch (1914) contained a large building with the attached ancillaries for planes (the central building was intended not for the passengers, but for a dirigible). [12] The predecessors of the modern terminals were the structures erected for the air shows of the Edwardian era (for example, the Reims Air Meet in 1909). These buildings usually were L-shaped, with one wing dedicated to the planes and flight personnel, and the other intended for the spectators, with a grandstand and restaurants in an arrangement similar to the one used for the racetracks. The shows also featured occasional passenger flights. [12] The other template of a terminal was provided by the first airline, the German DELAG that featured sheds for Zeppelins combined with passenger spaces close to the centers of cities, like the railroad stations. [14]
The first European passenger airports of the interwar period in the major transportation nodes (London, Paris, Berlin) were converted military airfields (London Terminal Aerodrome, Croydon Aerodrome, Great West Aerodrome, Le Bourget, Tempelhof) and lacked the spaces for the actual passengers. [15] US, on the other hand, lacked the war infrastructure and had to build the airports from scratch, mostly following the "hangar-depot" building type where, staff, passengers, and airplanes were all accommodated inside a single large building, like the one at the Ford Dearborn Airport (1925-1926). [16]
Dedicated passenger building started to appear. In Europe, Le Bourget got new buildings in classical style arranged in very non-airport-like manner around a central garden in the early 1920s. The "air station" of Königsberg Devau (1922) was probably the first design resembling the modern ones: Hanns Hopp, a German architect, placed a passenger building flanked by hangars into the corner of an airfield. This design influenced the Tempelhof, arguably the seminal design in the history or airports: the original Modernist terminal by Paul and Klaus Englers of 1926-1929 was placed into the center of the field, thus defied the need for expansion, and had to be replaced by the new building in the late 1930s (architect Ernst Sagebiel). [17] Hounslow (now Heathrow airport) was processing the passengers through a reused aircraft hangar, and a new classical terminal was built in Croydon in 1928. In the US, by 1931 the first airport in Chicago (now Midway Airport) had its own Art Deco terminal building. [18]
Sagebiel's Tempelhof had an appearance of a major railway terminus and housed, like many other European airports, great restaurants. [19] The design survived for more than 60 years, highly unusual for an airport due to Sagebiel being prescient and oversizing the building beyond the scope of the original needs. [20]
The original Le Bourget design was corrected by Georges Labro in the 1936-1937, with the new Modernist single-terminal layout following ideas of not-yet-unfinished Tempelhof (but without covered access to the planes) and Croydon. [21]
New York's LaGuardia Airport (Delano and Aldrich, 1939) contained many features common in the modern designs: two-level layout for separation between departing and arriving passengers, "spine" concourse extending to the both sides of the building, "dispatcher booths" as precursors to the airport gates. [22]
Tempelhof faced a contemporary critique for its cantilevered roofs intended to protect the planes and passengers − but wasteful in terms of construction and limiting the future aircraft designs (in addition to the lack of separation between the boarding and deplaning passengers). The movable covered ways (precursors of the modern jet bridges) were experimented with in the 1930s. [20] The Boeing's United Airport in Burbank, California featured retractable canopies already in the 1930. The tubes first appeared in the 1936 terminal at the London South Airport. The circular terminal design included six telescopic rectangular in section tubes for passengers, moving over the rails. [23]
The terminal at London South (now known as Gatwick Airport) also featured the first direct rail link connection (to the London Victoria Station). The rail ticket was included with the airfare. [23]
The system for early separation of departing passengers from their luggage (check-in desk) was introduced in the Speke Airport in Liverpool (1937-1938). It remains a key element of design of most passenger terminals ever since. [24]
Some 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. [25]
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. [26]
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. [27] 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. [28] For instance, at Toronto Pearson's Terminal 1 Moshe Safdie included skylights for wayfinding purposes.
Originally, the airport terminals were secured the same way as the rail stations, with local police guarding against the common crimes, like pickpocketing. The industry-specific crimes were rare, although the first plane hijacking occurred in the 1931 (in Peru). The 1960s brought the waves of terrorism and the tight security based on the ICAO recommendations. By the 1990s both passengers and luggage were routinely screened for weapons and explosive devices. The old floorplans of terminals were frequently inadequate (and structures not strong enough to carry the weight of the new equipment), so extensive redesign was required. Passenger garages integrated into the terminals were moved out to reduce the potential effects of the car bombs. Time spent by passengers at the airports greatly increased, [1] causing the need for additional space.
Early airport terminals opened directly onto the tarmac: passengers would simply walk to their aircraft, a so called "open apron " layout. [1] This simple design is still common among smaller airports.
For larger airports, like Kansas City International Airport, Munich Airport and Charles de Gaulle Airport, allowing many passenger to walk across tarmac becomes unfeasible, so the terminals switch to the "linear" layout, where the planes are located next to an elongated building and passengers use jet bridges to walk onboard. The design places limit on the number of gates, as the walkability requirement dictates the total length of the building (including the "spine" concourses) to be less than 1⁄2 mile. [1]
Some airports use a linear structure bent into a semicircular shape, with aircraft parked on the convex side and cars on the other. This design still requires long walks for connecting passengers, but greatly reduces travel times between check-in and the aircraft.
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).[ citation needed ] Most large international airports have piers, O'Hare Airport in Chicago and Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta were able to process 45 million passengers per year using this layout in the 1970s. [1]
Remote pier layout consist of multiple concourses that are connected by automatic people movers located underground or overhead. Once arrived on the concourse, passengers get on the planes as usual. This layout, after its first appearance at Hartsfield, was used at Stansted Airport in UK and, with an adequate people-moving system, is considered to be very efficient for the airport hubs with high percentage of transfer passengers. [1]
A satellite terminal is a round- or star-shaped 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.[ citation needed ] It used an underground pedestrian tunnel to connect the satellite to the main terminal. Passengers are sometimes ferried to the satellite terminals by people movers, trains, or overhead bridges. The layout has the potential to cut the walking distances and was successfully applied in the Orlando Airport and Tampa International Airport. However, the excessive area of airport apron required and difficult remodeling for new aircraft designs had reduced its popularity. Los Angeles International Airport, in particular, switched from satellite terminals to pier layout in the 1980s. [1]
Idea of a large airport using specially build vehicles to connect the passengers to the planes was driven by the desire to reduce time spent by the planes getting to and from the terminal dates to 1960s. The bodies of the so called mobile lounges can be raised to match the height of the terminal and airplane exit doors (much earlier designs used regular apron buses, for example, in the Milan's Linate Airport, but the passengers in this case had to climb up and down the airstairs). While used in the Washington Dulles International Airport and King Abdulaziz International Airport, the arrangement is prone to slowing down the embarkation and disembarkation as well as accidental damage to the planes. [1]
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.
Hybrid layouts also exist. San Francisco International Airport and Melbourne Airport use a hybrid pier-semicircular layout and a pier layout for the rest.[ clarification needed ]
Chris Blow lists the following standard options of using multiple levels in the airport terminals: [29]
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. [30] [31]
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 | ![]() | Dubai | 1,713,000 m2 (18,440,000 sq ft) | Three buildings connected by tunnels |
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Terminal 1-2 complex | ![]() | Guangzhou | 1,561,000 m2 (16,800,000 sq ft) | [32] |
Istanbul Airport | ![]() | Istanbul | 1,440,000 m2 (15,500,000 sq ft) | World's largest airport terminal under one single roof [33] |
Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 | ![]() | Beijing | 986,000 m2 (10,610,000 sq ft) | Three buildings connected by train [34] |
King Abdulaziz International Airport Terminal 1 | ![]() | Jeddah | 810,000 m2 (8,700,000 sq ft) | [35] |
Abu Dhabi International Airport Terminal A | ![]() | Abu Dhabi | 780,000 m2 (8,400,000 sq ft) | Opened in November 2023 [36] |
Hamad International Airport | ![]() | Doha | 725,000 m2 (7,800,000 sq ft) | Terminal area formally 600,000m2 before extension [37] |
Beijing Daxing International Airport Terminal | ![]() | Beijing | 700,000 m2 (7,500,000 sq ft) | [38] |
Shanghai Pudong International Airport Satellite Concourse | ![]() | Shanghai | 622,000 m2 (6,700,000 sq ft) | World's largest stand-alone satellite terminal [39] |
Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 1 | ![]() | Chek Lap Kok | 570,000 m2 (6,100,000 sq ft) | [40] |
Suvarnabhumi Airport | ![]() | Bangkok | 563,000 m2 (6,060,000 sq ft) | [41] |
Kunming Changshui International Airport | ![]() | Kunming | 548,300 m2 (5,902,000 sq ft) | [42] |
Barcelona Airport Terminal 1 | ![]() | Barcelona | 544,000 m2 (5,860,000 sq ft) | [43] |
Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport Terminal 3A | ![]() | Chongqing | 530,000 m2 (5,700,000 sq ft) | [44] |
Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal 3 | ![]() | Delhi | 502,000 m2 (5,400,000 sq ft) | [45] |
Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 | ![]() | Seoul | 496,000 m2 (5,340,000 sq ft) | [46] |
Wuhan Tianhe International Airport Terminal 3 | ![]() | Wuhan | 495,000 m2 (5,330,000 sq ft) | [47] |
Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport | ![]() | Qingdao | 478,000 m2 (5,150,000 sq ft) | [48] |
Barajas Airport Terminal 4 main building | ![]() | Madrid | 470,000 m2 (5,100,000 sq ft) | [49] |
Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport Terminal 3 | ![]() | Shenzhen | 459,000 m2 (4,940,000 sq ft) | [50] |
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Terminal 2 | ![]() | Mumbai | 450,000 m2 (4,800,000 sq ft) | [51] |
Narita International Airport Terminal 1 | ![]() | Narita | 440,000 m2 (4,700,000 sq ft) | [52] |
Soekarno–Hatta International Airport Terminal 3 | ![]() | Jakarta | 422,804 m2 (4,551,020 sq ft) | [53] |
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 has 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.
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface such as a runway for a plane to take off and to land or a helipad, and often includes adjacent utility buildings such as control towers, hangars and terminals, to maintain and monitor aircraft. Larger airports may have airport aprons, taxiway bridges, air traffic control centres, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, and emergency services. In some countries, the US in particular, airports also typically have one or more fixed-base operators, serving general aviation.
Tijuana International Airport ; officially Aeropuerto Internacional General Abelardo L. Rodríguez(General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport), is an international airport located 5 km (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 the main international airport serving Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. It is located in the Sepang District of Selangor, approximately 45 km (28 mi) south of downtown Kuala Lumpur and serves the city's greater conurbation.
O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport serving the twin cities of Johannesburg and the main capital of South Africa, Pretoria. It is situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel for South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's second busiest airport, with a capacity to handle up to 28 million passengers annually. The airport serves as the hub for South African Airways. The airport handled over 21 million passengers in 2017.
Stockholm Arlanda Airport is the main international airport serving Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. It is located in the Sigtuna Municipality of Sweden, near the town of Märsta, 37 km (23 mi) north of Stockholm and nearly 40 km (25 mi) southeast of Uppsala. The airport is located within Stockholm County and the historic province of Uppland.
Pittsburgh International Airport — originally Greater Pittsburgh Airport and later 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).
Tampa International Airport is an international airport six miles (9.7 km) west of Downtown Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (HCAA). The airport serves 100 non-stop destinations throughout North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe across multiple carriers.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport is an international airport serving Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, located roughly 6 miles (9.7 km) 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.
Norman Manley International Airport, formerly Palisadoes Airport, is an international airport serving Kingston, Jamaica, and is located south of the island 19 km (12 mi) away from the centre of New Kingston. It is the second busiest airport in the country after Sangster International Airport, recording 629,400 arriving passengers in 2020 and 830,500 in 2021. Over 130 international flights a week depart from Norman Manley International Airport. Named in honour of Jamaican statesman Norman Manley, it is a hub for Caribbean Airlines. It is located on the Palisadoes tombolo in outer Kingston Harbour; it fronts the city on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other.
Berlin Schönefeld Airport was the secondary international airport of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It was located 18 km (11 mi) southeast of Berlin near the town of Schönefeld in the state of Brandenburg and bordered Berlin's southern boundary. It was the smaller of the two airports in Berlin, after Berlin Tegel Airport, and served as an operating base for easyJet and Ryanair. In 2017, the airport handled 12.9 million passengers by serving mainly European metropolitan and leisure destinations. In the same year, the travel portal eDreams ranked Berlin Schönefeld as the worst airport in the world after evaluating 65,000 airport reviews. Schönefeld Airport was the major civil airport of East Germany (GDR) and the only airport of the former East Berlin.
Jacksonville International Airport is a civil-military public airport 13 miles (21 km) north of Downtown Jacksonville, in Duval County, Florida. It is owned and operated by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority.
Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport, formerly Birmingham Municipal Airport and later Birmingham International Airport, is a civil-military airport serving Birmingham, Alabama. The airport also provides scheduled airline service for the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa metropolitan areas. It is located in Jefferson County, five miles northeast of Downtown Birmingham, near the interchange of Interstates 20 and 59.
Piarco International Airport is an international airport serving the island of Trinidad and is one of two international airports in Trinidad and Tobago. The airport is located 30 km (19 mi) east of Downtown Port of Spain, located in the suburban town of Piarco. The airport is the primary hub and operating base for the country's national airline, as well as the Caribbean's largest airline, Caribbean Airlines.
Málaga Airport, officially Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport since June 2011, is the fourth busiest airport in Spain after Madrid–Barajas, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. It is significant for Spanish tourism as the main international airport serving the Costa del Sol. It is 8 km (5.0 mi) southwest of Málaga and 5 km (3.1 mi) north of Torremolinos. The airport has flight connections to over 60 countries worldwide, and over 14.4 million passengers passed through it in 2015. In 2017, 18.6 million passengers passed through Málaga Airport.
A gate is an area in an airport terminal that controls access to a passenger aircraft. While the exact specifications vary from airport to airport and country to country, most gates consist of a seated waiting area, a counter and a doorway leading to the aircraft. A gate adjacent to the stand where the aircraft is parked may be a contact gate, providing access by way of a jet bridge, or a ground-loaded gate, providing a path for passengers to leave the building to board via mobile stairs or airstairs built into the aircraft itself. A remote stand serves an aircraft stand further away, providing access to ground transportation to move passengers between the gate and the stand, where they board via stairs.
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 an automated people mover system located at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, connecting the two terminals and seven airside concourses of the airport. Made by Westinghouse Electric Corporation and maintained by Bombardier, the system is the world's most heavily traveled airport people mover.
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 December 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 five automated people mover (APM) systems operating within Orlando International Airport. Four of the systems, dubbed Gate Links, connect the airport's main terminal to four satellite airside concourses. The fifth, dubbed the Terminal Link, connects the main terminal to the 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.
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