TERMINAL CONFIGURATIONS

An airport terminal is a building at on airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation
and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from aircraft.

Due to the rapid rise in popularity of passenger flight, many early terminals were built in the 1930s-
1940s. Early airport terminals opened directly onto the tarmac: passengers would walk or take a bus to
their aircraft. This design is still common among smaller airports.

A pier design uses a small, narrow building with aircraft parked on both sides. One end connects to a
ticketing and baggage claim area. Most large international airports have piers, including Chicago's
O'Hare International Airport, Lamaca International Airport, Frankfurt International Airport, London
Heathrow Airport, Rome Fiumicino Airport, etc.

A satellite terminal is a building detached from other airport buildings, so that aircraft can parte around
its entire circumference. The first airport to use a satellite terminal was London Gatwick Airport. It used
an underground pedestrian tunnel to conned the satellite to the main terminal. Paris's Charles de Gaulle
Airport (Terminal 1), Geneva International Airport and London Gatwick Airport (South Terminal) have
circular satellite terminals, connected by walkways.

Lisbon International Airport (Terminal 2) has a small rectangular satellite terminal, connect by a free
shuttle service (accessible by Terminal 1,every 10 minutes).

Orlando International Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport have multi-pier satellite terminals.

Denver International Airport, Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport, and Hartsfield-
Jackson Atlanta Inlcmalional Airport have linear satellite terminals connected by central passages. The
linear satellite terminals are connected by automatic people movers. In the Atlanta and Cincinnati
airports, underground moving walkways also connect the linear satellite terminals.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport has a cross-shaped satellite terminal which is used for international
flights.

Some airports use a semicircular terminal, with aircraft parked on one side and can on the other. This
design results in long walks for connecting passengers. but greatly reduces travel limes between check-
in mut the aircraft. Airports designed around this model include Charles de Gaulle Airport (Terminal 2).

One rarer terminal design is the mobile lounge, where passengers are transported from the gate to their
aircraft in a large vehicle which docks directly to the terminal and the aircraft.

Hybrid layouts also exist. San Francisco International Airport and Melbourne Airport use a hybrid pier-
semicircular layout and a pier layout for the rest.