Airports C-F
Cairns Airport
Introducing a new-look Cairns Airport: The gateway to tropical North Queensland has invested A$55 million (US$40 million) in a domestic terminal upgrade to ensure it is ready to cope with the 6 million passengers expected by 2027. The airport is not just a key hub for North Queensland's booming tourism industry, anchored by Australia's famous Great Barrier Reef. It also services remote parts of the region and is a base for the Royal Flying Doctors Service of Australia.
Changi Airport
Changi Airport’s new Terminal 4, opened in October 2017, offers a pioneering collaboration with Singapore's National Heritage Board. The memorable environment offers travellers the chance to learn about traditional Peranakan (Straits-born Chinese) culture, with exhibits including a beautifully embroidered Sarong Kebaya, an antique wooden wedding bed and Peranakan porcelain ‘nyonyaware’. And in an airport synonymous with shopping, what could be more appropriate than this breathtaking doll house model display of Peranakan shophouse architecture?
The new Terminal 4 has also redefined the passenger travel experience with its Fast and Seamless Travel suite of self-service options. Passengers flying through Changi can enjoy a fully automated departure experience, from check-in and bag-drop, through to immigration and boarding. The acronym for Fast and Seamless Travel is, of course, FAST.
Chicago O'Hare Airport
Airports are principally created to get people on and off planes safely. And no operational component plays a more integral role in that function than the air traffic control tower, often architectural marvels in their own right. This magnificent structure at Chicago O'Hare International, gateway to Illinois and the great American mid-west is a prime example. [Photo: PPS Publications]
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, the primary international gateway serving the Mumbai Metropolitan Area, not only ranks as one of the world's greatest airports but also as one of its greatest construction achievements. Despite its often spectacular modernity, the airport's recent development was a brown-field project, a one-of-its-kind infrastructural project. The new Terminal 2 for once deserves that overused sobriquet 'iconic'. This is a fascinating mix of design, architecture, infrastructure and operational efficiency, with a rich infusion of Indian heritage & cultural character.
The T2 is also home to India's largest public art programme, titled 'Jaya He'', in the form of a 3.2 km multi-storey Art Wall, illuminated by skylights, that features 7000 pieces of artwork & artifacts from every region & corner of India.
Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport
A magnificent photo of an extraordinary airport. This is Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, one of the five largest airports in southwest China. This amazing structure covers 20 hectares, has two runways and three terminals. Its flights reach 83 domestic destinations and 37 international cities and regions, including Southeast Asia, Europe and North America.
Christchurch International Airport
Christchurch Airport is not only the gateway to the glorious South Island of New Zealand, it is the smallest city in the world to welcome a daily A380, a scheduled service direct to mainland China, and a year-round direct service to Singapore.
The 'Garden City' airport is also the closest airport to Antarctica and works with New Zealand, American, Italian, Korean and German programmes which support world-leading Antarctic science and environmental protection. During the winter months, it is the home away from home for SOFIA, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, and supports the aircraft’s visit which scientists say deliver them the best science in the world.
Copenhagen Airport
Copenhagen International is the gateway to Denmark and one of the airport community's great communicators. This brilliant video underlines the power of both human and digital engagement in reaching out to consumers, not just at the airport but long before they get there.
“Girls at the airport” by Hanne Varming at Copenhagen International T3
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport links the sprawling Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area in the US state of Texas to the world. Note the Emirates plane, arrived after a near 15-hour flight from Dubai. [Photo: PPS Publications]
“There is truly no other place bearing so much love as airports.”
– Ioana Cristina Casapu
Darwin International Airport
Darwin Airport, gateway to the capital of Australia's Northern Territory, welcomed passengers from Donghai Airlines’ inaugural flight to the airport in May in appropriate fashion. Donghai Airlines is the first Chinese carrier to fly into Darwin.
Denver International Airport
This panoramic image brilliantly captures the drama, both human and architectural, of a contemporary airport. Denver International's giant tented structure makes the Colorado gateway one of the most iconic in the world. [Photo: PPS Publications]
Dublin Airport
Airports like to create a buzz but Dublin Airport takes that responsibility more literally than most. The Irish airport company has taken on an unusual new role, as a honey producer. Its 100% natural Irish Nect-Air honey is harvested from four hives housing over 250,000 dark, native bees on airport land. Nect-Air is available exclusively at Terminal 1's award-winning Marqette restaurant, where it's reliably understood that passengers are making a beeline for it.
“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion is starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere.”
– from Love Actually, film script by Richard Curtis
Edinburgh Airport
Capital letters for a capital city's airport. Edinburgh Airport – ‘Where Scotland meets the world’.
Airports play a critical role in the tourism sector and Edinburgh's gateway does just that, serving 37 airlines, 222 routes, 153 destinations and 13.4 million passengers (+9%) last year, many drawn by the city's magnificant medieval Old Town and elegant Georgian New Town with its gardens and neo-classical buildings.
Frankfurt Airport
These images capture the majesty of Frankfurt Airport, the main hub for Germany's national carrier Lufthansa. An average of 176,726 passengers (arrivals + departures + transit) used the airport each day last year with 1,303 aircraft movements (take-offs and landings). This means that an aircraft took off or landed at Frankfurt Airport every 50 seconds during the 18 hours of daily operation. The flight information display screen below underscores the reach and scope of that traffic while the image epitomises the bustle and innate sense of purpose and of journey, fundamental to any airport. [Photos: PPS Publications]
The Moodie Davitt e-Zine | Spotlight Series – Special Report | 17 December 2018