Top ten international airports

Heathrow Airport

Heathrow Airport is the world's third largest hub, sitting 24km west of Central London, England. Heathrow served more than 67 million passengers in 2007, the vast majority of whom were on international flights.

The airport started in 1930 as an aircraft assembly and testing area. In 1946 it opened for civilian use as a commercial airport with three small runways designed for piston-engined planes. A further three were added the following year. Today, Heathrow has four passenger terminals and a cargo terminal.

The six runways were converted to two parallel runways to cope with modern planes.

Proposals for a fifth terminal at Heathrow were initially voiced in 1982 but it wasn't until 2001 that the government granted planning permission. The £4.2 billion ($8.5 billion) terminal, which is scheduled to open in March 2008, will boost the airport's passenger capacity by a further 30 million a year. It will increase runway efficiency and decrease terminal congestion. Aside from the new terminal building, airport bosses are also developing a new air traffic control tower, 4000 space car park, 600-bed hotel and 13km tunnel.

At its peak, the T5 development was the largest construction project in Europe, costing £12 million ($24 million) a week. Some 20,000 people will have worked on the project before its completion. When the new building is opened, Heathrow Airport's management plans to begin refurbishing the existing terminals. A white paper passed by the British Government in 2003 suggests a third runway will be built by 2020 if Heathrow satisfies environmentally-related targets.

Los Angeles International Airport

Los Angeles International Airport was developed following the city government's decision in 1928 to set aside 2.6 sq km for a new hub.

It is located 15 miles from downtown LA and now covers 14 sq km, including 186,000 sq m of cargo storage facilities. The airport is famous for its architecture, particularly the "Theme Building", which was constructed in 1961. Many believe the building looks like a UFO on four legs.

LAX serves 87 domestic and 69 international destinations in North America, Latin America, Asia and Oceania. It acts as a major hub for United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, while Delta Air Lines uses it as a secondary hub. Other carriers that operate from the hub include US Airlines and Aeromexico.

The airport received more than 61 million passengers, with some 1.8 million tonnes of cargo passing through so far this year via 660,000 airplane movements.

An estimated 59,000 jobs in the area are attributable to the airport. One in 20 jobs across Southern California are linked to Los Angeles International Airport's operations. In March 2007, the new Airbus A380 made its debut at the airport. By August 2007 a $1.2 billion project to construct 10 new gates to accommodate the new Airbus was approved.

"Many of the airlines are buying the larger planes and were looking to go to other airports", says Janice Hahn, City Council spokeswoman. "This sends a message to the airline industry that we want a world-class airport."

READERS' COMMENTS

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM