Our special guest writer TAURUS(*) has seen a lot of airports -- and doesn't like what he sees
FROM DACCA to Lima, Dalian to London, over the next few decades airports throughout Asia and the world will become more and more important as elements of economic infrastructure.
This will be so for almost all countries, large and small.
The more mobile world will see a greater percentage of the population of all countries flying and crowding airports. There will also be an expansion in related groupings, such as the non-travelling airport visitor.
Go to Dacca, Bangladesh, and you will see thousands of people around the airport, just visiting, just watching the action.
To digress, dare I say it is the perfect tonic for an unpopular politician or bureaucrat: fly into Dacca Airport and assume the watching hordes are there to salute your arrival!
A snapshot of airports around the world quickly throws up the good, the bad and the ugly.
First, to deal with the ugly, that can safely be said to be all of them by degrees. While it is true modern architecture abounds in all the new airports, few seek to be in sympathy with their surrounds, with the exception of one or two such as Paro Bhutan. It has terminal buildings in the Bhutanese mode, it has the advantage of being a small airport with a couple of flights each day, and a runway cunningly fitted into the floor of the Par Valley.
Second, the good or best category is dominated by Changi Airport, Singapore, often winning worldwide prizes for excellence and handling thousands daily with efficiency and even kindness.
The VIP terminal facilities in Singapore Airport are the best. They are luxurious but, importantly, designed to allow High Commissioners and Ambassadors to slip away quickly to golf courses or tennis courts after farewelling a Minister or VIP.
The good or very good from the passenger point of view are really few and far between. Yes, Singapore again, and the new airport at KL but its location is many kilometres from downtown Kuala Lumpur.
Third, the bad are many -- too many to detail and are located in just about every multiple airport country around the world. But I will pick on one.
Take spectacular Queenstown Airport in the unforgettable South Island New Zealand Alps. A bit like Bhutan, the runway is cunningly placed in difficult terrain between two ski resorts just north of the town, with Lake Wakatipu to admire nearby.
However, current arrangements provide for literal containerisation of international passengers departing on flights direct from Queenstown to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Worst still, in that brilliant way duty managers allow too often to happen, passengers are loaded into the cramped container on average a good half hour before being released to the tarmac for boarding.
Now, before the excuses are rolled out in relation to the need to process passengers through immigration and customs, Queenstown tourist officials should check the exact time between last passenger processed into the container for flight XYZ and first passenger released to tarmac.
Now, I acknowledge that not all airports can be modern, oversized and comfortable. But matters are often made a great deal worse by slack micro-management practices adding to the burden.
Please go to Queenstown because the scenery in all seasons is truly spectacular -- and no doubt management will improve the airport terminal in due course. As a bonus, ride the Lake Steamer or the extraordinary nearby Kingston Flyer steam train.
Having squared things With Queenstown New Zealand, let me nominate the cardinal rules for big airports to succeed from the passenger view in the second century of aviation.
First, if not already provided, there must be a passenger rail connection direct to airport. It is the only way to cater for growing traveller numbers in the future.
In these stakes, Charles De Gaulle Paris leads the way with both TGV and RER rail. Even Heathrow now has two rail connections, Sydney has just opened one, while Brisbane and Singapore will have rail connections in the near future.
Second, fine tune aircraft utilisation to provide long-term flexibility before noisy minority groups -- including those who cheerfully use the airport to travel regularly -- impose legislative caps on operations, involving more curfews.
Third, soften terminal images and vistas, and abandon the concept that sweeping oversized halls and passenger concourses are automatically the best way forward.
Space and plenty of space is needed in big airports, including for expansion, but the next wave of winning airport architects will be those successfully twinning size for capacity with boutique vistas.
In addition, a more enlightened range of services is required at the big hub airports and these should range from efficient internet booth connections through to well-equipped gymnasiums and diverse retail outlets.
There's one last, albeit low, priority: ensure that there are convenient escape hatches from VIP lounges, which are too often cocooned from the real world of the terminal. After all, not all Ministers are enthralled by isolated VIP lounges.
Airports are not by choice where people want to spend an enormous amount of time, but the reality is more and more people from all walks of life will be doing so. So let's see if we can make them less awful.
Tim Fischer, Taurus is the pen name of Tim Fischer, the former Australian Trade Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
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