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 .
132-647: The TWA Flight Center , also known as the Trans World Flight Center , is an airport terminal and hotel complex at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City . The original terminal building, or head house , operated as a terminal from 1962 to 2001 and was adaptively repurposed in 2017 as part of the TWA Hotel . The head house is partially encircled by a replacement terminal building completed in 2008, and flanked by two buildings added for
264-491: A video game console in a video arcade. Marketing space on jetways was uncommon until the early 2000s when HSBC launched their campaign "The World's Local Bank". Peter Stringham, head of marketing for HSBC worldwide, worked closely with Lowe's, the Group's global agency, in developing the campaign which required a single global platform. Stringham noticed jetways were a global medium which had not been tapped. HSBC thus bought
396-687: A 1962 exhibition of ten of the "world's most significant modern buildings". The American Institute of Architects gave the terminal an Award of Merit in 1963, and it was featured in magazines printed internationally. In addition, Saarinen won the AIA Gold Medal posthumously in 1962. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission held public hearings on the possibility of designating the TWA Flight Center's exterior and interior as official city landmarks in 1993. The head house's exterior and interior were designated as landmarks on July 19, 1994, though
528-420: A base made of concrete and plaster, as well as a passenger concourse cantilevered above the base. Flight Wing 2, shaped like a multi-sided polygon, was the smaller of the two structures, with seven gates; it contained utilitarian decor as well as a small flight operation center above the passenger area. Two bridges led to departure lounges (labeled gates 39 and 42), which could both fit 100 passengers; these had
660-532: A beautiful ruin, like the Baths of Caracalla". Saarinen died later that year while undergoing surgery. His associates, principal designer Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo formed Roche-Dinkeloo , which worked to complete the building. By March 1962, the incomplete TWA terminal was being used by passengers to get to planes. The unfinished terminal building was also used for a fundraising benefit that April. The completed terminal
792-775: 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. [REDACTED] Media related to Airport terminals at Wikimedia Commons Jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway , jetwalk , airgate , jetty , gangway , aerobridge / airbridge , finger , skybridge , airtube , expedited suspended passenger entry system ( E-SPES ), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge ( PBB ))
924-464: A hazard for wheelchair users and others with mobility issues. By using a retractable tunnel design, loading bridges may retract and extend varying lengths. Some airports use fixed walkways to effectively extend the reach of a loading bridge. The fixed walkway extends out from the terminal building and connects to the loading bridge rotunda. Occasionally, fixed bridges lead to multiple loading bridges. There are some jetways (such as several older bridges on
1056-510: A large building with the attached ancillaries for planes (the central building was intended not for the passengers, but for a dirigible ). 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
1188-442: A nearly weather-proof seal. Additionally, many models offer leveling devices for the portion of the floor that makes contact with the aircraft; this allows passengers to slowly transition from level aircraft floor to sloping jet bridge floor. As such, jet bridges provide enhanced access to aircraft for passengers with many types of disabilities and mobility impairments , as they may board and disembark without climbing stairs or using
1320-493: 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 ). Hounslow (now Heathrow airport )
1452-444: A pivot (or rotunda) to the terminal building and have the ability to swing left or right. The cabin, at the end of the loading bridge, may be raised or lowered, extended or retracted, and may pivot, to accommodate aircraft of different sizes. These motions are controlled by an operator's station in the cab. The cab is provided with an accordion-like canopy , which allows the bridge to dock with aircraft with differing shapes, and provide
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#17328588605081584-490: A red-and-oyster color scheme with furnishings. Flight Wing 1 was much larger than Flight Wing 2, having been built to accommodate Boeing 747 jumbo jets, and had 10 gates. Flight Wing 1 contained four levels, which served passengers, Federal Inspection Services , and operations; there were also baggage claim carousels in Flight Wing 1's basement, connected to the head house via people mover. Both flight wings were demolished with
1716-492: A restaurant, or a place to check in for flights departing from the newer JetBlue T5 building. In April 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported that JetBlue and its partner, a hotel developer, were negotiating for the rights to turn the head house into a hotel. Three months later, state governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed that the Saarinen building would become part of the TWA Hotel , a new on-site hotel for airport passengers. After
1848-489: A satellite terminal was London Gatwick Airport . 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 International Airport and Tampa International Airport . However,
1980-487: A single large building, like the one at the Ford Dearborn Airport (1925–1926). 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
2112-517: 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 . By the end of the 20th century airport terminals became symbols of progress and trade, showcasing the aspirations of nations constructing them. The buildings are also characterized by a very rapid pace of redevelopment, much higher that that for structures supporting other modes of transportation, eroding
2244-410: A specialized wheelchair lift . Some airports with international gates have two or even three bridges for larger aircraft with multiple entrances. In theory, this allows for faster disembarking of larger aircraft, though it is quite common, especially on aircraft such as Boeing 747s and Boeing 777s , to use one bridge for only passengers in first class and/or business class , while the other bridge
2376-530: A spot on one side of the International Airlines Building. TWA's hangar was on the opposite side of its assigned lot. Under the leadership of TWA president Ralph S. Damon, TWA hired Eero Saarinen and his Detroit -based firm to design the TWA Flight Center. Even though Saarinen's firm was simultaneously working on 15 other projects, he agreed to take the commission. A writer for Interiors magazine described TWA as having "vision and confidence" for
2508-460: A stationary hallway in between. As a cost-saving measure, the passageways were ultimately not designed with moving walkways. The tubes originally led to Flight Wings 1 and 2. The passages were 6 feet (1.8 m) higher at the flight wings than at the head houses. Flight Tube 1 was about 232 feet (71 m) long while Flight Tube 2 was 272 feet (83 m) long. Following the opening of the TWA Hotel,
2640-569: 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. Chris Blow lists the following standard options of using multiple levels in the airport terminals: 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
2772-400: Is accomplished by a flight of stairs and, in some instances, a wheelchair lift . In this scenario, a passenger proceeds through the gate and then up a flight of stairs to meet the height of the jet bridge. An example of this can be found at South Bend International Airport . Alternatively, a ramp can be used in the terminal building to bring the passengers from the waiting area to the height of
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#17328588605082904-466: Is an enclosed, movable connector which most commonly extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane , and in some instances from a port to a boat or ship , allowing passengers to board and disembark without heading outside and being exposed to harsh weather. Depending on building design, sill heights, fueling positions, and operational requirements, a jet bridge may be fixed or movable , swinging radially, or extending in length. The jetway
3036-410: Is for the use of passengers in economy class . In some designs, the second jet bridge would even extend over the aircraft wing, being suspended from an overhead structure. This was, for example, originally adopted for most wide body gates at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol . The Airbus A380 is unique in that both of its two passenger decks have outside access doors and so using loading bridges for each deck
3168-430: Is joined to the lower level by a central staircase and to the upper level by four peripheral staircases. Ceramic tiles line the walls and floors. The TWA Flight Center incorporated many innovations upon its completion, including closed-circuit television , a central public address system, baggage carousels , electromechanical split-flap display schedule board and baggage scales, and gates that were somewhat distant from
3300-499: Is located at the middle of a curve in one of JFK Airport's service roads, in front of the elevated AirTrain JFK people mover. The key collaborators from the Saarinen office included Kevin Roche, Cesar Pelli , Norman Pettula, and Edward Saad. Warren Platner was largely responsible for the interiors. To engineer the roof, Saarinen collaborated with Charles S. Whitney and Boyd G. Anderson of the firm Ammann & Whitney . The general contractor
3432-527: Is outside the sterile area of Terminal 5, meaning that visitors can only access the hotel before going through T5 security or after arrival at T5. The hotel's decorations, replicas of the original furnishings, include brass lighting, walnut-accented furnishings, and rotary phones. The hallways contain red carpeting, evocative of the color of the furniture in the original TWA lounge. The rooms also contain modern amenities such as blackout curtains and multiple-pane soundproof windows. The two passageways leading from
3564-510: Is possible, having the advantage of faster aircraft loading (in parallel). Faster loading can lead to lower airport charges, fewer delays and more passenger throughput for the airport, all factors which impact an airline's bottom line . Though loading bridges are usually permanently attached at their terminal-building end, leaving only the cab free to move, this is not always the case. Those at Melbourne Airport 's international terminal, and at Hong Kong 's former Kai Tak Airport , are anchored in
3696-405: 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. Historically, airports were built in a variety of architectural styles , with the selection depending on the country: The concrete boxes of terminals built in
3828-581: Is used at Boston Logan International Airport 's Terminal E. 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 m (4,300,000 sq ft). 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
3960-681: The Albert S. Bard Award for architectural excellence. A wooden walkway, intended as a temporary structure, was built in the 1980s to connect to the Sundrome when TWA expanded its operations there. By 1992, the TWA Flight Center was in "tawdry condition", with parts of the structure appearing actively deteriorated. The PANYNJ considered demolishing the building, but the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) hosted public hearings in 1993 to determine whether to protect
4092-582: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was exempt from New York City's building code . The main portion of the head house's facade is made of large green-tinted glass walls. These glass walls were coated with a dark purple mylar film before 2005. Single-story wings extend outward from the main terminal to the north and south and contain several door openings within the concave walls. Inside these wings are maintenance areas. The head house contains two full stories, as well as an intermediate level, which
TWA Flight Center - Misplaced Pages Continue
4224-480: The September 11, 2001, attacks , T5 contains 20 security lanes, one of the largest checkpoints in a U.S. airline terminal. Two buildings, north and south of the newer T5 structure, encircle the original head house to the east. These buildings are part of the TWA Hotel , which has 512 guest rooms, 40,000 square feet (3,700 m) feet of meeting space, and an observation deck of 10,000 square feet (930 m). The hotel
4356-482: 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. 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
4488-404: 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 ,
4620-542: The 486 variously-shaped window panels, were replaced with replicas of the originals. The departure board from the original construction was also restored. The hotel opened on May 15, 2019. TWA had wanted a structure "represent[ing] a daring departure from conventional air terminal concepts". Under TWA president Damon's guidance, Saarinen had designed the terminal as "a building that starts your flight with your first glimpse of it and increases your anticipation after you arrive". As such, Saarinen had used similar design features on
4752-481: The International Arrivals Building, and the structure attached to Flight Tube 1 was functionally inadequate. By 1967, TWA announced that it would build Flight Wing 1 on the northwest to accommodate wide-body aircraft , hiring Roche-Dinkeloo to design the $ 20 million expansion. Work started in 1968, and the concrete shell was finished by that December. Flight Wing 1 opened on February 25, 1970, but
4884-487: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, or PANYNJ), which operated Idlewild Airport. TWA had begun flying internationally in 1946 from New York's LaGuardia Airport with flights to Paris , London , Rome , Athens , Cairo , Lisbon , and Madrid . In 1950, as both a domestic and international carrier, the former Transcontinental and Western Airlines changed its name to Trans World Airlines . By 1954, Idlewild had
5016-451: The Port Authority proposed demolishing the terminal for T5 that "the full impact of the building was revealed". After the TWA Hotel conversion was complete, Australian Design Review wrote: "The interior curves, cantilevers and spacious mezzanines have stood the test of time." When the newer T5 was announced in 2005, JFK Airport's vice president of redevelopment described the planned structure as "a very practical, very efficient building". T5
5148-495: The T5 facility behind and partially encircling Saarinen's head house. Peripheral portions of the head house were demolished to make space for a larger 26-gate facility designed by Gensler . Originally, there were also tentative plans to renovate one of the departure lounges, known as The Trumpet . During the construction of T5, The Trumpet was lifted and moved 1,500 ft (460 m) at a cost of $ 895,000, only to be later demolished when
5280-503: The TWA Flight Center among the top 150 buildings in the United States. Airport terminal 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,
5412-406: The TWA Flight Center's head house is designed to relate to its small wedge-shaped site, with walkways and gates placed at acute angles. Saarinen described the head house form as being like the " Leonardo da Vinci flying machine", according to his associate Kevin Roche . Radiating out from the head house are two departure-arrival passenger tubes extending southeast and northeast. The TWA Flight Center
TWA Flight Center - Misplaced Pages Continue
5544-702: The TWA Flight Center, and the LPC designated the terminal as an exterior and interior landmark in 1994. Instead, the PANYNJ started considering plans for what would become the T5 expansion. Elastomeric coating was added to the roof in 1999 to prevent leakage. TWA deteriorated financially during the 1990s, and after it eliminated many routes in 1996, moved most of its New York operations to the TWA Flight Center. TWA eventually sold its assets to American Airlines in October 2001. For three months, American Airlines still operated flights out of
5676-502: The TWA Flight Center. American Airlines ceased flight operations at the terminal in December 2001 and allowed its lease inherited from TWA to expire in January 2002. By then, airport officials saw the terminal as functionally outdated. As a bi-state agency, the PANYNJ could legally bypass the LPC designation and demolish parts of the terminal. Preservationists expressed concern over the fact that
5808-420: The TWA Hotel buildings are located east of the original head house. The terminal's entry hall is composed of two arms that wrap around the TWA Flight Center's head house in a crescent shape. The two passenger tubes from the original design were retained, but the original gate structures were destroyed. T5 contains 26 gates. The TWA Flight Center's head house is a two-story structure. The roof's thin concrete shell
5940-450: The TWA terminal was "planned to combine the functional realities of a jet-age air terminal with the aesthetic drama of flight". Many contemporary media compared the terminal to "a bird in flight". Architectural Forum (which praised the terminal) and Architectural Review (which criticized it) both characterized the design as a "concrete bird". Saarinen said the building's resemblance to a bird
6072-417: The TWA terminal was no worse than any other airport terminal. Italian engineer and architect Pier Luigi Nervi was also skeptical of the design, saying that the structure was "too heavy and elaborate for the problem it seeks to solve". Adulation for the original design continued long after its completion. Progressive Architecture magazine stated in 1992 that the terminal "represented a high point not only in
6204-485: The United States' busiest railroad station, to observe passenger circulation patterns. The team found that passengers within Grand Central Terminal often traveled in curving paths, even though the terminal itself was rectangular. TWA anticipated that at peak hours, the terminal would accommodate a thousand passengers, with two thousand departures and arrivals per hour. Additionally, TWA needed fourteen positions at
6336-445: The aircraft door sill height. This often results in a slope along the length of the loading bridge. Controls in older systems contain a large number of individual motor control buttons, with efficient operation requiring a high degree of operator skill and experience. Modern control consoles are much simpler, with only a few buttons, a graphic display console, and a single multi-axis joystick, with an overall appearance similar to that of
6468-464: 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. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport 's innovative design pioneered concepts such as direct highway access to
6600-426: The airport terminal." 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 and industrial spies . Still, some of the concept architectural designs resembled the modern terminal buildings: Erich Mendelsohn ’s sketch (1914) contained
6732-467: The airport, concourses, and jetbridges ; these designs are now seen at most airports worldwide. 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. Airport architects have followed this model since unobstructed sightlines aid with passenger orientation. In some cases, architects design
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#17328588605086864-524: The architectural media, and the Museum of Modern Art ran an exhibit on the building in 1959. The completion of the terminal prompted a large amount of architectural commentary, most of it positive. While the TWA terminal's design had several critics and skeptics, it was still described as being appropriate in the context of the Jet Age . Architect Robert A. M. Stern called the head house a symbolic " Grand Central of
6996-458: The arrangement is prone to slowing down the embarkation and disembarkation as well as accidental damage to the planes. 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,
7128-590: The boundary between the permanent and temporary construction. 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 . Terminals perform three main functions: Just like entire airports,
7260-481: The bridge is not retracted fully before departure, it may contact protruding parts of the taxiing aircraft (e.g., a pitot tube ), requiring repair and delays. Furthermore, during cold weather, the loading bridge may become frozen to the aircraft. In this case, when the jet bridge retracts, it could damage the aircraft if that area has not been properly de-iced. When regional jets are used, jet bridges have another disadvantage, since they allow only one aircraft to park at
7392-402: The building beyond the scope of the original needs. The original Le Bourget design was corrected by Georges Labro [ fr ] in 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. New York's LaGuardia Airport ( Delano and Aldrich , 1939) contained many features common in
7524-400: The building, but only 200 of these sketches were used in the final design. The resulting plan was characterized as providing a "smooth and luxurious switch from ground transportation to planes". By November 1957, TWA had announced a design with a projected cost of $ 12 million (equivalent to $ 100 million in 2023). Aline Saarinen worked with TWA to coordinate marketing activities centered on
7656-586: 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). 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. Remote pier layout consist of multiple concourses that are connected by automatic people movers located underground or overhead. Once arrived on
7788-520: 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. 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
7920-527: The construction of T5 in the 2000s. New York International Airport , also known as Idlewild Airport, began construction in 1943 on the site of the Idlewild Beach Golf Course in southern Queens , and had been operating since 1948 with a single terminal building and a control tower. The following year, Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) signed a lease with the Port of New York Authority (later
8052-458: The construction of the new terminal itself in August 2004. In the time that the TWA Flight Center stood disused, it was utilized for brief events. Shortly after its closure, the head house was used for the filming of the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can . In 2004, the dormant head house briefly hosted an art exhibition called Terminal 5 , featuring the work of 19 artists from 10 countries. The theme of
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#17328588605088184-413: 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
8316-475: 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
8448-466: The design of air terminals, but in the exercise of corporate responsibility". Two years later, New York Times critic Herbert Muschamp called the TWA Flight Center "the most dynamically modeled space of its era". In a 2005 book about Saarinen's work, Jayne Merkel said "the building did for TWA what the Saint Louis Arch [...] would eventually do for Saint Louis". According to Merkel, it was not until
8580-545: The design. Roche said that one initial design had called for an oval shell upon four piers, but that Saarinen had rejected that plan as awkward. Furthermore, engineer Abba Tor had warned that a single slab of concrete might crack. Saarinen's team first created 3D models of the planned terminal, then drew sketches of the structure; this contrasted with the design processes of more traditional buildings, in which architects drew sketches before creating their 3D models. Saarinen's team created several wire, cardboard, and clay models of
8712-676: The disembarking process in bad weather. At the airport terminal, the bridge is connected to a portal (called a " gate ") in the terminal wall behind the gate desk. Once airplane boarding starts, passengers hand their boarding passes to the gate's attendant, who lets them pass through. Inside, the bridge looks like a narrow, lighted hallway, without doors. Loading bridges usually have no windows, but glass walls are becoming more common. The walls are normally painted in accordance with airline standards, generally with relaxing colours. Some bridges have advertisements on interior or exterior walls. The floors of retractable bridges are generally uneven, creating
8844-449: The disused head house and adding two adjacent buildings. The head house of the TWA Flight Center, designed by Eero Saarinen and his associates, is a pioneering example of thin-shell construction, consisting of a reinforced concrete shell roof supported at the corners. The design incorporates elements of the Futurist , Neo-futurist , Googie and Fantastic architectural styles. It
8976-418: The edges to 40 inches (1,000 mm) at the convergence of the four shells. The roof weighs 6,000 short tons (5,400 t) in total. The roof shells are cantilevered by up to 80 feet (24 m) and contain steel reinforcement to accommodate the roof's weight. When the TWA Flight Center was erected, thin-shell concrete roofs could not be built in other parts of New York City; the roof could only be built because
9108-472: 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
9240-417: 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. 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
9372-512: The existing building with one or possibly two new terminals. The concept received opposition from the Municipal Art Society (MAS), as well as architects Philip Johnson and Robert A.M. Stern . The opposition suggested the building, which brought passengers into immediate view of the sky and aircraft beyond, would be "strangled" if wrapped by another terminal, and that wrapping the Saarinen head house with another terminal would not preserve
9504-752: The exterior designation excluded the gate structure attached to the northeastern tube. The Municipal Art Society nominated the facility for inclusion on the National Trust for Historic Preservation 's list of the 11 Most Endangered Places in America in 2004, after the terminal's closure. On September 7, 2005, the National Park Service listed the TWA Flight Center on the National Register of Historic Places. The American Institute of Architects ' 2007 survey List of America's Favorite Architecture ranked
9636-512: 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
9768-417: The floor as a single slab. There are also mechanical, service, and office areas in a partial basement under the intermediate level, as well as a tunnel that led to Flight Wing 1. A concrete balcony on the upper floor spans the central staircase from the lower floor to the intermediate level. The TWA operated its Ambassador Club on the northern (left) portion of the upper floor. Three restaurants were located on
9900-430: The four shells supports the others. Four Y-shaped piers support the roof, facing the front and back; these measure 51 feet (16 m) tall by 315 feet (96 m) long. Skylights are placed within the gaps between each shell. The building's main entrance is on the land side, where the roof projects over a sidewalk (formerly a driveway) with a scupper . The roof concrete varies in thickness from 7 inches (180 mm) at
10032-851: The gate at a time. Several airlines have removed jet bridges at regional jet gates at airports such as Atlanta which are short on gates. When having passengers disembark on the ramp or apron, airlines can fit two or more regional jets per gate. In many other places like Beijing Capital Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport , a gate for large aircraft can be used to accommodate two smaller aircraft like Boeing 737s or Airbus A320s . Several incidents of jet bridges collapsing include Sydney, Hong Kong, Seattle, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Islamabad. Airports frequently charge increased fees for using loading bridges on stands as opposed to mobile stairs, therefore low-cost airlines such as Ryanair have avoided using these wherever possible. Jet bridges are occasionally used at smaller, single-story airports. This
10164-467: 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
10296-488: The head house are completely enclosed and cross a service roadway that serves T5 and the TWA Hotel. The passageway leading southeast was called Flight Tube 2, while the passageway leading northeast was called Flight Tube 1. These tubes are covered in concrete, with an elliptical cross section as well as indirect lighting. Original plans called for the passageways to be designed as bridges with glass ceilings; each passage would have two moving walkways, one in each direction, with
10428-403: The highest volume of international air traffic of any airport globally. In 1955, the "Terminal City" master plan was developed for Idlewild Airport. All of the major airlines, including TWA, would build their own terminals, while smaller airlines would be served from an International Arrivals Building. When the locations of each airline's terminal was announced, TWA and Pan Am were each assigned
10560-417: The hotel's development was announced, the historian Lori Walters used laser scanners to document the building's architecture. Construction began in December 2016. The structures on either side of the head house were demolished, though the head house was retained, and additional structures were built. During the head house's conversion into a hotel, many original details, such as the custom ceramic floor tiles and
10692-616: The hotel. The replacement terminal is home to JetBlue 's JFK operations. The head house and terminal are collectively known as Terminal 5 or T5 . The TWA Flight Center was designed for Trans World Airlines by Eero Saarinen and Associates starting in 1956. It was erected between 1959 and 1962, and it operated as an air terminal until 2001. It has a prominent wing-shaped thin shell roof supported by four Y-shaped piers . An open three-level space with tall windows originally offered views of departing and arriving jets. Two tube-shaped red-carpeted departure-arrival corridors extended outward from
10824-452: The interior and exterior. He said, "We wanted passengers passing through the building to experience a fully-designed environment in which each part arises from another and everything belongs to the same formal world." Shortly after the plans for the TWA Flight Center were announced in 1957, The New York Times described the plan as "hav[ing] a startling effect" for first-time visitors, but "not so revolutionary" inside. Another newspaper said
10956-406: The jet age". Ada Louise Huxtable , architecture critic for The New York Times , saw the TWA Flight Center as a bright spot in the "mediocrity" of JFK Airport. The interior was also praised. Critic Edgar Kaufmann Jr. in 1962 called the interior "one of the few major works of American architecture in recent years that reaches its full stature as an interior". Ken Macrorie of The Reporter compared
11088-544: The jet bridge. For example, Sawyer International Airport in Marquette, Michigan has jet bridges that can load passengers onto smaller passenger aircraft such as the Saab 340 turboprop. The Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport has two gates using this approach. This can be done to attract larger airlines that require use of a jet bridge to the airport, as well as to make disembarking smaller planes easier for disabled people and to improve
11220-580: 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. 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
11352-786: 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
11484-540: The main terminal. The intermediate level contains an area facing east, where passengers could originally see the tarmac. By the early 1990s, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 , a switchback ramp had been added between the lower level and the intermediate level. The ticket counter and baggage claim areas were placed at ground level, on the other side of the curbside canopy, to maximize convenience for passengers. A sculpted marble information desk rose from
11616-512: The middle and movable at either end to permit the terminal building-end to be raised or lowered to connect with either the departures level or the arrivals level of the terminal building. Loading bridges restrict aircraft parking to spots immediately adjacent to the terminal. Thus, airports use mobile staircases to facilitate disembarking at hardstands (remote parking positions) and have buses transporting passengers to terminals. Loading bridges may pose hazards to aircraft if handled improperly. If
11748-426: The middle of that year, the contractors were partially relying on computer calculations to complete the project. By the end of 1960, the roof was fully supported by the four Y-shaped piers, and the scaffolding was removed. By April 1961, when only the concrete vaults had been completed, Saarinen remarked that "If anything happened and they had to stop work right now and just leave it in this state, I think it would make
11880-432: 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 . 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
12012-457: The north terminal at Edmonton International Airport ) that sit directly on the ground, as opposed to supports. These jetways are often used by small airlines or airplanes that are sometimes too low for conventional jetways (such as the Dash 8 and CRJ ). The cab of the loading bridge is raised and lowered to dock with aircraft of differing sill heights. The height of the cab is matched to the height of
12144-413: The official logo for the event, an abstraction of the new terminal floor plan for the signage and counting down the reopening via Twitter . At the time of the T5 opening, JetBlue and PANYNJ had yet to complete renovation of the original Saarinen head house, and the building had stood empty while they decided what its future role should be. Early proposals included a conference center, an aviation museum, and
12276-405: 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
12408-611: The original New York Penn Station . The interior was modeled next; since the space was to be symmetrical, Saarinen's team only created drawings for half the interior. Roche said the area around the center staircase was remodeled at least ten times. In addition to around 130 possible plans created by the Saarinen office for the terminal, contractors provided hundreds of their own drawings. Cross-sections and contour maps were also devised. The drawings took some 5,500 man-hours to produce, and they were accurate to about 1 ⁄ 8 inch (3.2 mm). Saarinen's team had devised 600 sketches of
12540-526: The original plan, but these features were absent in the final construction, and two "arms" flanking the head house had been removed. Construction began in June 1959, involving 14 engineers and 150 workers. A grid was devised to manage the steel-pipe scaffolding at the construction site, and 5,500 supports were used in the scaffolding. The contractors also prefabricated 27 different wedge shapes, creating 2,500 wedges in total. Grove Shepherd Wilson & Kruge constructed
12672-506: 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. 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. The first European passenger airports of
12804-414: The project's budget prioritized renovating the head house. The head house was renovated to remove asbestos and replace deteriorated sections of the facility. The head house was planned to be used as an approach to the new T5 facility, and both buildings would be collectively known as Terminal 5. T5 reopened on October 22, 2008, with JetBlue using an abstraction of the Saarinen terminal's gull-wing shape as
12936-511: The project. Eero Saarinen's wife Aline recalled that her husband saw most other air terminals as being ugly, shoddy, and inconvenient. Saarinen wanted the new terminal to have a practical purpose and not only "interpret the sensation of flying", but also "express the drama and specialness and excitement of travel". Damon sought for "the spirit of flight" to be encapsulated in the design. Saarinen's firm started researching other airports to collect data, and they also visited Grand Central Terminal ,
13068-732: The rails. 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 . 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. Some airlines checked in their passengers at downtown terminals, and had their own transportation facilities to
13200-523: The shell may have been inspired by one of Saarinen's breakfasts, a grapefruit that he pushed down at the center. During another discussion, Roche used a saw to bisect one of the models, creating the inspiration for the roof's four shells. In creating the TWA Flight Center's roof, Saarinen may also have been inspired by Minoru Yamasaki 's design for St. Louis Lambert International Airport 's main terminal, his father Eliel Saarinen 's design for Helsinki Central Station ; and McKim, Mead & White 's design for
13332-486: The shells to the specifications outlined in Saarinen's contour maps, which were precise to intervals of 1 foot (0.30 m). Although the project employed carpenters with "no special skill", the procedures were precise enough that they allowed for a maximum deviation of only 0.25 inches (6.4 mm) from the plan. The roof was poured as a single form starting on August 31, 1960; the work took 120 hours. The Y-shaped piers required hundreds of additional drawings to fabricate. By
13464-467: The show featured work, lectures, and temporary installations drawing inspiration from the terminal's architecture; it was supposed to have run from October 1, 2004, to January 31, 2005. The show closed abruptly after the building itself was vandalized during its opening gala. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. In December 2005, the PANYNJ began construction of
13596-500: The southern (right) portion of the upper floor: the Constellation Club, Lisbon Lounge, and Paris Café. There were also offices on the upper level, north and south of the public areas. Terminal 5 has a 55,000-square-foot (5,100 m) retail area with 22 food and drink concessions, 35 stores, free wireless Internet access , a children's play area, and a 1,500-space parking garage. As the first airline terminal at JFK designed after
13728-466: The spirit of the building but would mummify it "like flies in amber." Philip Johnson, speaking at the 2001 presentation, said of the proposal: This building represents a new idea in 20th-century architecture, and yet we are willing to strangle it by enclosing it within another building. Imagine, tying a bird's wings up. This will make the building invisible. If you're going to strangle a building to death, you might as well tear it down. By late 2002, there
13860-467: The tarmac-facing waiting room to a railroad hub's waiting area and alluded to the similarities with the city's original Pennsylvania Station. One major critic of the design was historian Vincent Scully , who disliked Saarinen's use of "whammo shapes" at the TWA Flight Center and Dulles International Airport . British critic Reyner Banham questioned the practicality of the terminal's design, which did not clearly link "function and symbol", but he said that
13992-433: The terminal architecture. 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. 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. The passenger terminal
14124-434: The terminal could be significantly modified. After preservationists raised concerns, the PANYNJ proposed an alternative that would preserve the tubes and build a new structure east of the existing building. The PANYNJ still wished to destroy one or both of the flight wings. By August 2001, the PANYNJ presented its first proposal, which entailed converting the head house into a restaurant or conference center, while encircling
14256-551: 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 ,
14388-622: The terminal for large jets. The Saarinen team started devising designs for the terminal's form in February 1956. Although the site assigned to TWA was not the airline's first choice for an Idlewild terminal, the design team took advantage of the site to design a highly visible terminal. One of Saarinen's original designs was sketched on the back of a restaurant menu, when he and Aline were eating dinner with Time magazine's associate editor Cranston Jones . Unhappy with initial designs, Saarinen asked TWA for more time and took an additional year to resolve
14520-411: The terminal from the building announcement to its completion in 1962. The plans were revised in 1958 after Saarinen's original design was determined to be too expensive. Though both flight wings had been included in the original plan, only Flight Wing 2 was initially built as a cost-saving measure; the other wing was not completed until 1970. The passageways were to have a glazed roof and moving walkways in
14652-404: The terminal's ceiling and flooring with cues that suggest the required directional flow. 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
14784-472: The terminal's roof, constructed at various scales . One early model for the terminal was based on Jørn Utzon 's winning proposal for the Sydney Opera House 's architectural design competition, for which Saarinen had been one of the judges. Saarinen had originally envisioned the roof as a single shell, but he refined the design twice before ultimately devising the plan with four shells. The final model for
14916-453: The terminal, connecting to the gates; these would be demolished for the 2008 addition. Roche-Dinkeloo , a successor firm to Saarinen's company, designed an expansion in 1970. Its design received much critical acclaim; the interior and the exterior of the head house became New York City designated landmarks in 1994, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The encircling Terminal 5 addition, designed by Gensler ,
15048-410: 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
15180-442: The terminals switch to the "linear" layout, where the planes are located next to an elongated building and passengers use jet bridges to walk on board. 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. Some airports use a linear structure bent into a semicircular shape, with aircraft parked on
15312-417: The tubes connect the head house to additional rooms in the hotel, as well as to T5. Flight Tube 2 connected to Flight Wing 2, from the 1962 Saarinen design, while Flight Tube 1 connected to Flight Wing 1, from a 1967–1970 expansion designed by successor firm Roche-Dinkeloo . Both sections were characterized as being "violin"-shaped, with jetways extending outward from the end of each wing. The flight wings had
15444-503: The wing was not dedicated until March 20, when international passengers could pass through the terminal directly. With the addition of Flight Wing 1 came the expansion of the ticketing counter in the head house. The baggage handling area was expanded, and the new addition was connected to the basement of Flight Wing 1. By 1979, TWA had built a traffic island with a canopy to provide shelter for passengers waiting for ground transport. The shelter, constructed by firm Witthoefft & Rudolf, won
15576-468: The world, particularly smaller airports and terminals supporting low cost carriers . United Airlines tested an early prototype "Air Dock" in 1954. The first operational "Aero-Gangplank", as it was dubbed by inventor Lockheed Air Terminal , was installed by United at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in 1958. Jet bridges provide all-weather dry access to aircraft and enhance the security of terminal operations. They are often permanently attached at one end by
15708-483: Was Grove Shepherd Wilson & Kruge. The Arup Group was the structural engineer, Langan was the civil engineer, and Jaros, Baum & Bolles was the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineer. The Terminal 5 (also known as T5) addition, which is connected to the TWA Flight Center, is a 625,000-square-foot (58,100 m) facility designed by Gensler . It contains 26 gates that can accommodate 250 flights per day, and 20 million passengers annually. The form of
15840-408: Was a coincidence, despite privately describing the structure as a "Leonardo da Vinci flying machine". The architect Robert Venturi said that Saarinen's designs evolved "from vocabulary rather than from function" and that, at the time, many of Saarinen's peers still adhered to the philosophy of form following function . Even when the TWA Flight Center was under construction, it was often discussed in
15972-608: Was also described as "hyper-efficient" and a "monument to human throughput", and a reviewer said T5 "might be the [...] best" terminal at JFK Airport. When the terminal was completed, it received numerous accolades and awards, including from the Queens Center of Commerce and the New York Concrete Industrial Board . Architectural Forum included the TWA Flight Center and the Pepsi-Cola Building as part of
16104-406: Was available from a temporary structure attached to Flight Tube 1. As with many terminals designed before the advent of jumbo jets, increased passenger traffic and security issues, the design proved difficult to update as air travel evolved; terminal gates close to the street made centralized ticketing and security checkpoints difficult. International flights at JFK during the 1960s were routed through
16236-426: Was built between 2005 and 2008. It consists of the 26 active gates at Terminal 5, as well as numerous restaurants and stores. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), which operates JFK Airport, had once intended the original structure as an entrance to the replacement terminal. That plan did not happen, and the TWA Hotel was instead constructed between 2015 and 2019; its development entailed renovating
16368-403: Was changed to John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1963. Despite being finished relatively late compared to other terminals at JFK Airport, the TWA Flight Center incorporated many novel features for its time, which influenced the design of other airport terminals. The terminal as completed had seven aircraft positions, six of which were available from Flight Wing 2; the other boarding position
16500-460: Was dedicated on May 28, 1962. Most other major U.S. airlines had completed their Idlewild terminals sooner: after the opening of the International Arrivals Building in 1957, United Airlines and Eastern Air Lines opened their own terminals in 1959, followed by American Airlines and Pan American World Airways ( Worldport ) in 1960, and Northwest Airlines and TWA in 1962. The National Airlines Sundrome would be last, in 1969. The airport's name
16632-402: Was designed to span a wide space using as little material as possible. The roof is composed of four concrete shells: two upward-slanting shells at the edges, which resemble wings, and two smaller shells slanting downward toward the front and back of the structure. The upward-slanting shells reach up to 75 feet (23 m) above ground level. The rooftop shells converge at the center, where each of
16764-439: Was invented by Frank Der Yuen . Similar devices are used for astronauts to enter spacecraft , which are installed at the appropriate height of the launch tower. Before the introduction of jet bridges, passengers normally boarded an aircraft by walking along the ground-level ramp and climbing a set of movable stairs, or airstairs on aircraft so equipped. Mobile staircases or "ramp stairs" are employed at many airports around
16896-518: 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
17028-423: Was one of the first to use enclosed passenger jetways , which extended from "gate structures" at the end of each tube. In the original plans, aircraft would be available via the "Flight Wing", a single-story building that passengers would have to walk to at ground level. The jetways removed the need for passengers to walk on the ground and sheltered passengers from inclement weather. The current JetBlue terminal and
17160-590: 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. Sagebiel's Tempelhof had an appearance of a major railway terminus and housed, like many other European airports, great restaurants. The design survived for more than 60 years, highly unusual for an airport due to Sagebiel being prescient and oversizing
17292-618: 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, 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. 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
17424-484: Was still no agreement on the usage of the TWA Flight Center, except that the head house and passageways would be preserved. The following year, the PANYNJ and JetBlue agreed on a plan that would include reopening the TWA Flight Center and constructing a new 26-gate Terminal 5 behind the TWA Flight Center. At the time, JetBlue was operating out of the adjacent Terminal 6, the Sundrome, and was the airport's fastest growing carrier. The PANYNJ and JetBlue came to an agreement on
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