Top Airports in Asia
Top Airports in Asia
  • Chun Go-eun
  • 승인 2011.02.23 09:17
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Airports the loveless shells where nobody stays for long

Airports are all impersonal, loveless shells where nobody stays for long.  Despite that, they are almost always the first things that people see when traveling to a new country, and must serve as the face of their city. In this corner of Asia, three notable airport faces are Shanghai's Pudong airport, Tokyo's Narita, and Seoul's Incheon.  These three airports combined handle approximately 75 million passengers per year.  They are all also gigantic physical solutions to complex spatial and logistics problems, each approaching the question of how to move people around in their own unique way.  Narita is the oldest of the three, having opened in 1978.  Next was Pudong in 1999, and Incheon in 2001.  As faces of their respective cities and the backbone of a region's infrastructure, these airports are essential to East Asia's smooth operation.  But which one of them is better  Having been through all three, I think I can give a little insight into that.

 

Incheon Airport

Incheon Airport, Korea

Incheon airport has received the World's Best Airport Award for six years in a row. Let's break down the reason why. Incheon airport, the youngest of the three, also handles around 30 million passengers per year.  Its 10 year history has seen it be one of the most accessible and smoothest airports in the region.  I might have a little bias because I use this airport most often, but it has really streamlined the process of getting on an airplane.  The airport is shaped like an elliptical curve, with the inside of the curve being for people and the outside of the curve being for planes.  There are also two spikes sticking out of the elliptic at 45 degree angles.  On the inner surface of the elliptic, there are a large number of airport bus stops that can take you to almost anywhere within 2 hours drive from the airport, especially all points in Seoul.  Also, an airport train was just recently finished which travels from the center of the airport to the center of Seoul, connecting it with the extensive subway system of the main city in about 1 hour.  The airport feels very long and thin, and a passenger only has to travel from one side of the thin part to the other to get on or off a plane.  They have also implemented an electronic check-in system that actually works, even for international flights.  It is the greatest feeling in the world to simply walk into the airport, scan your passport and enter your ticket number, and get a boarding pass.  This all happens in about 5 minutes while you are looking at the traditional long line of passengers checking in non-electronically.  And after advancing further into the hub and passing security, it is often just a short walk to your gate.  The place still feels new and fresh, and the entire terminal seems to be under one roof. There is no chance to become lost while wandering around in a confusing maze of twisty passages, all alike.  The only confusion might arise from not being able to find the correct bus stop from the 20-odd assembled buses right outside the front doors.  Incheon airport's reputation has gone out as one of the smoothest and best laid out airports in the world, and many other airport planning and maintenance groups have come to evaluate the airport in order to improve their own.  Also, the airport has received the World's Best Airport Award for five years in a row.  It is definitely something that Seoul, and by extension Korea, can be proud of.

Narita Airport

Narita Airport, Japan

Now lets talk about Narita.  The airport handled around 29 million passengers in 2009, and 2.1 metric tons of cargo.  It is located in almost the geographic center of Japan, right outside Tokyo.  It is one of the most well-known airports in the region, probably because it is the first stop after a Pacific flight for many airplanes and connecting flights from Narita go all throughout Asia.  The airport is divided into two terminals.  Terminal 1 is a spoke-like configuration, with 4 large spikes sticking out of an oddly-shaped trapezoidal building.  Terminal 2 is larger, shaped like a warped I, located on the other side of the Higashi Kanto Expressway, and only connected to Terminal 1 by subway and bus lines.  Travelers using public transportation to get to the airport have to know which terminal they need to go to before they get there because they even have different railway stations.  It can be intimidating when trying to transfer from one flight to another, but the heavy amount of English-language signage does help a lot.  Generally the airport has the feel of a modern and busy building, with a lot of white and a lot of vaulted ceilings.  While it can be difficult to get around, one can have a pleasant experience during the walk or  on one of the many methods of public transportation.  The airport is extremely busy, and it is expensive for airlines to use it.  Japanese authorities have limited the number of flights that each airline can operate from the airport, so the airlines generally pass the expense on to their passengers.  The airport has recently been operating at record traffic levels since its privatization in 2003, making the place busier and more hectic for passengers.  One interesting fact about the airport is that due to the popularity of tuna in Japan and the amount of tuna imported through Narita, the airport qualifies as the eighth largest fishing port in Japan.

 

Narita:

* Very strong connection to public transportation

* Handles record amounts of traffic well

* Extremely foreigner-friendly

Pudong:

* Extremely simple design

* Open 24 hours per day

* Extensive expansion planned

Incheon

* Most accessible layout

* E-ticket services speed check-in

* Close to the city

Pudong Airport

Pudong Airport, China

Shanghai's Pudong airport is much younger, and much simpler in design.  It is just one long straight strip along the road.  No twists, turns, hubs, spikes, or complex terminal layouts - the airport is as simple as it gets.  Airplanes taxi up to one side of the horizontal obelisk and people go in and out the other.  It handles around 17 million passengers per year, or at least it did in 2007, which is the latest statistics that can be found.  The airport itself feels a little grungy, a little run down, as if it has not been cleaned well enough since it was built.  It is, however, one of the few Chinese airports that is open 24 hours a day.  It also has its share of airy vault-like spaces and windows, but you generally just want to get on your way when you are there.  Pudong is very well known for cargo traffic, always growing each year about 10% or more in total cargo traffic.  The airport is quite proud of this and is competing with both Narita and Incheon to become the largest cargo traffic hub in the region.  There are also many expansion plans in the works, which include a second terminal bigger than all the current terminal buildings combined and a third runway.  A fourth and fifth runway and another cargo terminal also are waiting to be built, in a third phase of expansion planned down the road.  Also recently China Southern Airlines mentioned that they plan to keep their five Airbus A380 planes in Pudong airport, although for now this is just speculation.

 

One can't go so far as to say that one airport is more competitive than another, because you can't interchange them.  You can't simply decide to fly to Incheon instead of Narita because you just like it better - it all depends on where you're going of course.  But you can at least know which airport to look forward to more when you are traveling. And if the time comes when you need to open up a Asian office for your expanding company, the right airport is an important factor in making that decision.  Narita, Pudong, and Incheon are all important traffic hubs in their own right and their own regions.

 


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