What Will Airports Look Like in the Future?
By the year 2030 we will have twice the number of air passengers passing through our airports and due to this estimation, as well as the fact that air travel is the only way to literally connect our world cities to the global economy, airports will go under some significant development in the next two decades.
Forget cool lighting and super modern surfaces, the most pressing issue that must be addressed for our future airports is the lack of space, and the burgeoning need for compactness. Scientists, planners and dreamers are aware of the increasing difficulty of expanding on existing airport facilities, therefore it is likely that the aviation and aerospace industry will need to come up with innovative solutions to increase capacity while reducing the environmental impacts. We may see a heavy investment in vertical takeoff pads that can house the airplanes of the future, which will of course, be designed to takeoff and land vertically themselves. So rather than a few massive sprawling airports we may see dozens of mini airports clad in solar panel roofs and phovoltaic panels. Our future airports will strive to not only be energy efficient but also self-sustainable, producing their own power and recycling their own waste.
The other side of the argument is the aerotropolis. This is the idea of the airport being at the centre of cities, which have always formed around transportation links since the dawn of civilisation. Airports of the future will be a primary consideration, rather than a secondary afterthought. The situation currently is that we have airports on the outskirts of major cities but this will be dropped in favour of making airports the heart of major cities, around which everything else is built. This aerotropolis model will be like a mini-city in itself, a vast self-contained complex with retail, entertainment, dining, accommodation services as well as work facilities where holiday-makers can check into the office one last time before departure. Also known as aerovilles among some aerodynamic engineers, scientists and travel experts, airports will be destinations in their own right, boasting quality hotels, restaurants, cinemas, bars, clubs and live music venues and built into a spectacular landscape making use of rolling hills, waterfalls and panoramic vistas.
Some factors will remain on a similar trajectory. For example security is going to be ever-increasing; hopefully however, as technology becomes more advanced the security process will become smaller and more efficient. The process of boarding should also be reduced in length and time. Because transit will flow through and around the airports of tomorrow, flyers will be able to get closer to their boarding gate from the beginning of their airport experience. Private jet charters will remain the indulgence of the rich and famous. The distance from check in to boarding will be as little as possible. Even boarding calls will be made more efficient and sustainable via mobile phones, which should also mean an increasingly personalised experience for air passengers.
We’re already seeing examples of this thinking in the new ultra-modern airports being constructed in Asia and the Middle-East. Whatever they look like they will have to run smoothly and be capable of processing millions of flyers and aircraft every year.
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