In the days of high-priced fuel, the TSA, luggage fees and crowded skies over large cities, the heydays of air travel seem like a long-faded memory. The great historic airlines and aircraft are now little more than fond memories for those who can remember a more civilized day in air travel. The magic of flight is not lost though, so long as one moderates their expectations.
Aviation has always had a romantic quality to it, the planes, the airlines and their people have all romanticized about in one form or another over the years. Airports, on the other hand largely go unnoticed, unaccredited and largely unappreciated for what they do. Even in the smallest of commercial service airports must have systems in place to deal with great logistically complex problems of bring an aircraft in safely, transferring its passengers and cargo to where they need to go, and reloading it before it departs. In addition to that there’s suppliers for the airport shops and restaurants, parking for employees and passengers, public ground transport, rental car agencies, ground handling equipment, a large network of luggage handling systems and don’t get me started on the complexities of the ramp, taxiways, and active runways.
Unlike aircraft, airports are all completely different. With some minor exceptions in interior appointments and a paint scheme one 737 is basically identical to another, no different than say two Ford Fusions of the same trim and model year. No two airports are alike. Airports are unique solutions to a complex problem and are shaped by their communities, geographical and airspace constraints as well as the demands of the flying public. In their communities they are huge economic centers, not only providing employment, but access to perhaps the greatest commodity of them all, the flow of ideas and people from one place to another. Due to this they largely reflect the local communities. Larger airports like DTW, ORD, and ATL to name a few are like entire cities in and of themselves, smaller airports like HSV are like sleep towns by comparison. But they all have their own unique charm.
I am by all means not your ordinary traveler, I love aviation, airlines, aircraft and airports. Despite what many people refer to as hassles I love to travel by air. There’s nothing I enjoy more in life. That being said I realize that many find the experience to trying. Because the facilities at one airport are greatly different from the next I decided to put together this blog, The Traveler’s Guide to Airports. It is intended to provide the traveling public with information that is valuable should you have a layover at an airport, your flight be diverted unexpectedly, or you’re simply flying into or out of an airport you’ve never been to before. I’ll start with the essentials, like charging stations, WIFI access, etc. and then work my way down to the information that is of interest to aviation enthusiast like myself.
The Traveler's Guide to Airports 