Talking about airport terminals, we often focus on exciting new-build projects. But airports, especially in Europe and North America, face a much more complicated issue: terminals built in the 1970s, 80s, or 90s that now require fundamental renewal for several reasons:
𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀. Check-in hall is no longer as central as it used to be, but security needs much more space. Demand for commercial areas increased significantly. Gates need to be larger, since average loads per flight have grown from 60–70 passengers twenty years ago to at least double figures.
𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱. Even 20-year-old buildings can feel “worn out”. This affects not only design and interior quality for users, but also operational functionality and economic efficiency.
𝗥𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘂𝗽𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀. In many countries, rebuilding means the entire building must be brought up to current codes. The biggest impacts are typically fire-protection, escape-routes, and energy consumption, which impacts HVAC and façade concepts.
In most cases the solution is more demanding than a pure new build, because of following circumstances :
𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲. In the past, you could build a new terminal next to the old one, open it, then demolish the old. Today, there simply isn’t enough space for that.
𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝘁. Tight conditions make it impossible to accommodate every future requirement. This often leads to long and time-consuming internal allocation battles.
𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆. Construction must happen in multiple partial phases. As if defining the target state wasn’t complicated enough, all interim phases also need to be coordinated.
𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆. The footprint of older terminals is not deep enough from curb to apron to meet modern requirements. Often the building would need to be at least 50m deeper. Changing this is significantly harder than creating additional space on the side.
𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀. All the above typically leads to a cost-to-return ratio that is less attractive than airports are used to. On top of that, some airports were too optimistic in the past about provisions for replacing existing building fabric.
Airports are struggling to turn aging-terminal into a solid, shared project baseline. The result: projects slow down, stakeholders push back, and planning gets restarted again and again because no outcome feels acceptable to everyone.
The solution is a more holistic approach: Airports need to develop not only a construction solution, but at the same time also a leaner future operating strategy fitting into the limited architectural concept and budget, rather than treating users needs as a „unchangeable request“
