The 3 Major Types of Airport Terminal Layouts
The airport is the first place you see when you arrive in a foreign city — because of this, airport designers are always trying to leave a good first impression on you. Much thought is put into designing airport terminals to maximize efficiency and minimize walking distances. Today, we’re going to look at the three types of airport terminal layouts: linear, pier, and satellite.
Linear
With a linear terminal layout, aircraft are parked directly in front of the terminal in a linear fashion. With such a design, the distances between the curb, check-in, security, and the gates are minimized. Many regional and municipal airports use this layout for its efficiency: most airports using a linear terminal layout are small airports without jetbridges, such as London City (LCY). However, this design can be occasionally seen in larger airports, with some of the largest being San José Mineta (SJC) and John Wayne (SNA). A linear terminal layout is quite inefficient with large airports in terms of land usage because aircraft are parked on only one side of the terminal. Not only that, large airports that see a significant number of connections avoid this design as walking between gates would be a strenuous task.
Curved Linear
Curved linear, a variation of the linear terminal layout, utilizes a curved terminal to increase the number of parking stands in front of the terminal. Examples of this are Dallas Fort Worth (DFW), Kansas City (MCI), and Charles de Gaulle (CDG)’s terminals 2A-2D.
Pier
A pier layout uses a small, narrow terminal building with aircraft parked on both sides, with one end of the terminal connected to the check-in/security building. This way, aircraft handling capacity is maximized while being efficient with land usage. The pier design is by far the most common design used for commercial airports. Some examples include Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX), Charlotte Douglas (CLT), Philadelphia (PHL), Los Angeles (LAX), and Guangzhou Baiyun (CAN).
Star Pier
A star pier is a special type of pier layout where multiple piers are arranged in a star shape. Examples include Orlando (MCO) and Pittsburgh (PIT).
Although less efficient than parallel piers, a star pier terminal allows fast connections to be made. Combined with the fact that a star pier layout allows for architectural innovations, new mega-airports in hub cities such as Beijing (Daxing, PKX) and Istanbul (IST) opted for this design.
Satellite
A satellite terminal is detached from other airport buildings so that aircraft can park along its entire perimeter. Understandably, satellite terminals allow for the most efficient use of land. However, there are downsides too. Due to its nature, getting to and from a satellite terminal requires some form of transportation. Shuttle buses would work for smaller satellite terminals, but larger satellite terminals often see the implementation of monorails or underground metros. This drastically increases the building cost of the terminal, which turns smaller airports away from this design.
Many airports such as LAX and DFW use satellite terminals for regional flights.
Linear Satellite
Some airports that have linear satellite terminals are Dubai (DXB), Atlanta (ATL), Denver (DEN), and Heathrow (LHR).
Circular Satellite
An example of a circular satellite terminal is Charles de Gaulle (CDG)’s terminal 1. However, it’s worth mentioning that space for seating and shopping may be limited in small satellite terminals.
In older airports, we can even see the evolution of terminal designs throughout the ages — one prime example of this being New York’s JFK.
Conclusion
All of these terminal layouts have their ups and downs, and that’s why many airports use a combination of these for their different terminals to serve different needs. Some airports may even use a combination of these layouts to make the most out of their land, such as a pier integrated into a linear terminal. Have any questions? Leave a response below! :)
