EoW September 2012

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September 2012 26
Airport rebuilding boom
Overtaken by the era of 500-passenger
planes, airports in the United States are
in a rush to remedy their de ciencies
The British consulting rm Skytrax recently reported that six
of the ten airports best liked by travellers are in Asia, three in
Europe, and one in Canada. Conspicuously absent from that list
are any airports in the United States. In sorry contrast to such
favourites as Frankfurt Airport, Changi Airport in Singapore,
and Hong Kong International Airport, which consistently fare
well in traveller surveys, US airports receive low marks for
customer service, drawing many more complaints about delays,
congestion, and older facilities.
Commenting on this in the New York Times, airline
correspondent Jad Mouawad noted that, for years during which
passenger tra c slowed and airlines struggled to make a pro t,
the major domestic airports put o necessary improvements.
But, he wrote: “They can no longer a ord to wait. Symbols of
the jet age, like Kennedy Airport’s 50-year-old Terminal 3, are
obsolete and falling apart.” Mr Mouawad pointed out that most
airports in the US are owned by cities or local authorities but are
not dependent on taxpayer money to nance themselves; they
are, therefore, less a ected by the current political imperative to
rein in spending. Thus, at a time when federal and state public
works programmes are stalled, the nation’s biggest airports
are in the midst of major renovations or expansions that, taken
together, represent some of the largest infrastructure projects
in the country. (“Building Boom Takes Hold at US Airports,” 14th
June).
Investments in airports “are going to be among the largest
public work projects going on around the country,” Patrick
Foye, the executive director for the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey (PATH), told the Times. His agency
owns ve airports, including Kennedy Airport, La Guardia
Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport. The
billion-dollar outlays are concentrated at the largest
international gateways. Many of these airports have ageing
terminals, some built in the 1960s and 1970s, that are ill suited
to the crowds, security lanes, and aircraft of today. Helping to
spur much of the new investment is the need to accommodate
such behemoths as the double-deck Airbus A380, which seats
500 passengers.
Other motivating factors cited by Mr Mouawad are airline
mergers and the increase in the number of foreign carriers ying
into the United States. Notable examples of the extensive new
construction activity would include the following:
† The $1.4 billion terminal for international passengers at
Harts eld-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Georgia,
which opened in May at the nation’s largest airport by number
of passengers. The work, part of a $6 billion renovation plan,
includes a 1.2 million-square-foot concourse (roughly the size
of 21 football elds), 12 additional boarding gates, more than
3,500 additional parking spots, and a new highway entrance
† Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, in Texas, which is
conducting a seven-year, $2 billion renovation of its older
terminals to add more parking and concession stands and
bigger security lanes
† Los Angeles International Airport, in California, where a
$4.1 billion expansion programme was begun three years ago.
The latest phase is a $1.5 billion new international terminal –
billed as the largest public works project in the city’s history –
that will add 18 gates capable of accommodating the largest
planes, including the Airbus A380. Mr Mouawad observed
that LAX currently has only two gates capable of handling the
A380, although ve A380 ights land there every day
Congested New York
The Times noted that the important New York area airports – all
three of them in densely populated areas – have little wiggle
room for new tra c. (Their combined footprint is one-quarter
that of Denver International Airport, in Colorado, which spreads
over nearly 53 square miles of unpopulated prairie.) But
according to PATH’s Mr Foye: “Each has the ability to make better
use of its real estate.” Among the e orts in that direction:
† At Kennedy, Delta Air Lines is currently building a
$1.2 billion expansion to Terminal 4, which will eventually
replace the obsolete Terminal 3, built in 1960 as Pan
American’s Worldport. That circular terminal – in Mr
Mouawad’s view “an embarrassment to both the airport
and the airline, and a dreaded destination for passengers”
– will be demolished next year, once Delta’s new terminal
is completed. Likewise, to make room for the $200 million
expansion of JetBlue’s Terminal 5, JFK will tear down
Terminal 6. The 1969 building, known as the National Airlines
Sundrome and renowned for its sweeping glass walls, was
designed by the architect I M Pei.
† La Guardia Airport and Newark Liberty are also getting
badly needed makeovers. PATH is planning a $3.6 billion
rebuild of the ageing Central Terminal Building at La Guardia,
which opened in 1964. A similar $2 billion plan is also under
consideration for the replacement of Terminal A at Newark. A
$350 million renovation of Terminal B there is nearly nished.
“Airports are businesses,” declared Jerry Orr, the chief executive
Transatlantic Cable
Image: www.bigstockphoto.com Photographer Zsolt Ercsel