EoW September 2012

Transatlantic Cable

† 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

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,” 14 th 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:

Image: www.bigstockphoto.com Photographer Zsolt Ercsel

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September 2012