Three quarters of a million people are in a plane somewhere right now. Many millions travel by air each day. For most of us, the experience of being in an airport is to be endured rather than appreciated, with little thought for the quality of the architecture. No matter how hard even the world's best architects have tried, it is difficult to make a beautiful airport. And yet such places do exist. Cathedrals of the jet age that offer something of the transcendence of flight even in an era of mass travel and budget fares. Here are twenty-one of the most beautiful airports in the world. The book features: Wellington International Airport, 'The Rock' shaped like the dangerous cliffs of a local legend Kansai International Airport, Renzo Piano's gigantic project built on three mountains of landfill Shenzhen International Airport, a manta ray shaped terminal putting this booming region on the map Daocheng Yading Airport, the world's highest civilian airport in the middle of the Tibetan mountains Chhatrapati Shijavi International Airport, rising from the slums of Mumbai like a Mogul palace Queen Tamar Airport, a playfully iconic modern airport nestled in the mountains of Georgia King Abdulaziz International Airport, the gateway to Mecca resembling a Bedouin city of tents Pulkovo Airport, mirroring the city of St Petersburg with bridges, squares and art Berlin-Tegel Airport, ultramodernity, 1970s style Copenhagen Airport, an icon from the golden age of air travel Franz Josef Strauß Airport, sober and easy to negotiate, Munich's model airport Paris Charles du Gaulle Airport, the brutalist icon that launched the career of airport architect Paul Andreu London Stansted Airport, Norman Foster's return to the golden age of air travel Lleida-Alguaire Airport, a relic of Catalonia's early 21st century building boom Madrid-Barajas Airport, Richard Rogers and Antonio Lamela's calm, bamboo-panelled Terminal 4 Marrakesh Ménara Airport, a blend of 21st century construction and traditional Morrocan design Santos Dumont Airport, Rio de Janeiro's modernist masterpiece Carrasco International Airport, Rafael Viñoly's design inspired by the sand dunes of his native Uruguay Malvinas Argentinas International Airport, echoing the mountains and glaciers of Tierra del Fuego John F Kennedy International Airport, Eero Saarinen's glamorous jet-age TWA terminal Spaceport America, a vision of the future in the New Mexico desert

The interdisciplinary research and development work carried out in the last ten years which is presented in this book aimed at replacing the conventional airport control tower by a new “remote tower operation” work environment (RTO) which should enhance work efficiency and safety and reduce costs. This revolutionary human–system interface allows for remote aerodrome traffic control without a physical tower building and enables the establishment of remote airport traffic control centers (RTC) of which each may serve several airports from a central location.

Art of the Airport Tower is a photographic journey to airports in the U.S. and around the world. This book, the companion volume to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum exhibition of the same name, explores 85 historic and contemporary airport towers through more than 100 fine art photographs by Carolyn Russo. Russo's photography makes these ordinary structures extraordinary: more than mere aviation artifacts, they are monumental abstractions, symbols of cultural expression, and testimonies of technological change. The first impression travelers have when they reach a new city or country may well be the tower; as such, it is often an embodiment of important symbols and values. For example, at the Stockholm-Arlanda Airport in Sweden, two lookout points perch like birds at the top of the control tower in reference to two protective ravens from Nordic mythology. The Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in China features wavy structures designed to look like scrolls of silk delicately sheltering passengers below. Russo's striking photographs capture these features, and informative captions describe their architectural, cultural, and technological significance. An introduction by Smithsonian commercial aviation expert F. Robert van der Linden tells the history of airport towers to contextualize Russo's work. Art of the Airport Tower is a stunning book that brings a heightened awareness to the architectural beauty and historical significance of these structures.

The bestselling author of The Architecture of Happiness and The Art of Travel spends a week at an airport in a wittily intriguing meditation on the "non-place" that he believes is the centre of our civilization. In the summer of 2009, Alain de Botton was invited by the owners of Heathrow airport to become their first ever writer-in-residence. Given unprecedented, unrestricted access to wander around one of the world's busiest airports, he met travellers from all over the globe, and spoke with everyone from baggage handlers to pilots, and senior executives to the airport chaplain. Based on these conversations he has produced this extraordinary meditation on the nature of travel, work, relationships, and our daily lives. Working with the renowned documentary photographer Richard Baker, he explores the magical and the mundane, and the interactions of travellers and workers all over this familiar but mysterious "non-place," which by definition we are eager to leave. Taking the reader through departures, "air-side," and the arrivals hall, de Botton shows with his usual combination of wit and wisdom that spending time in an airport can be more revealing than we might think.

When published in 2009, The Art of Flying was hailed as a landmark in the history of the graphic novel in Spain for its deeply touching synthesis of individual and collective memories. A deeply personal testament, Altarriba’s account of what led his father to commit suicide at the age of ninety is a detective novel of sorts, one that traces his father’s life from an impoverished childhood in Aragon, to service with Franco’s army in the Civil war, escape to join the anarchist FAI, exile in France when the Republicans are defeated, to return to Spain in 1949 and the stultifying existence to which Republican sympathisers were consigned under Francoism. The Art of Flying is immensely moving and vivid, beautifully drawn by Kim. It was highly praised in Spain on first publication, where it was compared to Art Spiegelman’s Maus. It went on to win six major prizes, including the 2010 National Comic Prize.

Illustrates the daily activities at an airport, including a rock star arrival, a flight delay, and a thunderstorm.

"An exhibition catalog for Sean Scully's Landline"--

Though we routinely take to the air, for many of us flying remains a mystery. Few of us understand the how and why of jetting from New York to London in six hours. How does a plane stay in the air? Can turbulence bring it down? What is windshear? How good are the security checks? Patrick Smith, an airline pilot and author of Salon.com's popular column, "Ask the Pilot," unravels the secrets and tells you all there is to know about the strange and fascinating world of commercial flight. He offers: A nuts and bolts explanation of how planes fly Insights into safety and security Straight talk about turbulence, air traffic control, windshear, and crashes The history, color, and controversy of the world's airlines The awe and oddity of being a pilot The poetry and drama of airplanes, airports, and traveling abroad In a series of frank, often funny explanations and essays, Smith speaks eloquently to our fears and curiosities, incorporating anecdotes, memoir, and a life's passion for flight. He tackles our toughest concerns, debunks conspiracy theories and myths, and in a rarely heard voice dares to return a dash of romance and glamour to air travel.

The past and present of environmental graphic design at airports worldwide.

Newark Airport was the first major airport in the New York metropolitan area. It opened on October 1, 1928, occupying an area of filled-in marshland. In 1935, Amelia Earhart dedicated the Newark Airport Administration Building, which was North America's first commercial airline terminal. Newark was the busiest airport in the world until LaGuardia Airport, in New York, opened in 1939. During World War II, Newark was closed to passenger traffic and controlled by the United States Army Air Force for logistics operations. The Port Authority of New York took over the airport in 1948 and made major investments in airport infrastructure. It expanded, opened new runways and hangars, and improved the airport's terminal layout. The art deco administration building served as the main terminal until the opening of the North Terminal in 1953. The administration building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.