CHICAGO - Getting
stranded at an airport once meant hours of boredom in a kind of travel
purgatory with nothing to eat but fast food. These days, it can seem
more like passing through the gates of Shangri-la to find spas, yoga
studios, luxury shopping, and restaurant menus crafted by celebrity
chefs in terminals with calming, sleek design.
Stung by airline
bankruptcies and mergers, more U.S. airports are hunting for alternative
revenue streams by hiring top design firms to transform once chaotic
and dreary way stations into places of Zen-like tranquillity and luxury
where people actually want to get stuck - and spend money. Airports are
putting what one designer calls "terminal bliss" on display in hopes of
drawing in more passengers and revenue.
"It's classy, it's very
classy. . . . It makes you feel good about the layover," said Marty
Rapp, 70, who got rosy-cheeked with the help of a large glass of merlot
under ice-crystal chandeliers at Chicago-O'Hare's Ice Bar, whose white
and softly reflective decor gives the feeling of being secluded in an
igloo - where everyone is drinking and merry.
Airport redesign has been
accelerating in the United States over the last 10 years, fueled by a
combination of factors including an airline industry that, beset by
bankruptcies and consolidation, is less able to shoulder as much of the
operating costs for city-owned airports through landing fees and gate
rental. More revenue from better retail and dining helps make up the
shortfall.
At the same time,
travelers are becoming savvier and want more than just to get from Point
A to Point B. The airport has become almost a destination in its own
right, a place worthy of stopping off for a while for a little shopping
or pampering.
"There's the ability to
go swimming at some airports, there's the ability to actually perfect
your golf swing at some airports, there is the ability to - it's not
just getting a quick massage on your shoulders - it's almost really
going to a spa in some cases," said Bill Hooper, an architect at global
design firm Gensler, which has transformed airport terminals, including
San Francisco's Terminal 2, whose abundant natural light, art
installations, and cool club feel set a new benchmark for contemporary
airport design.
The United States and
Canada still lag behind Europe and Asia in the number of airports that
are architectural gems and the array of unique offerings. Stockholm's
Arlanda Airport offers a wedding package, so couples can tie the knot in
the control-tower balcony. And Seoul's Incheon International Airport is
building a six-level terminal that will include a soaring glass-paneled
ceiling giving passengers the feeling they are passing through a
terrarium-like wonderland, with a babbling brook, tropical plants, and
butterflies.
But American airports are
catching up. Space-age-looking redevelopment at Denver International
Airport slated to be finished by 2015 includes a Westin hotel and
conference center with a rooftop pool and views of the Rockies. With an
outdoor plaza for events and a fast new rail line, the airport hopes to
be seen as an extension of downtown, about 23 miles away.
Dallas-Fort Worth
International Airport opened a nearly mile-long walking path over mosaic
floor art inside Terminal D in April. There are two optional cardio
step courses leading up 55-foot-high staircases, and the path ends up at
a free yoga studio, where barefoot travelers get a view of taxiing
aircraft as they stretch behind light-diffusing screens.
In a sense, airports have taken some of the members-only airline club lounge experience and opened it up for all.
"They're actually trying to create the same sort of sanctuary concept for the more casual traveler," Hooper said.
Business travelers in
particular are catching on and actually evaluating the offerings to pick
which airport to spend their layover in.
"Montreal [airport] has a
smoked-meat place . . . that if I'm booking travel and I need to go
back on the East Coast, sometimes I'll say, 'Can you get me to Montreal
for an hour layover so I can have a smoked beef sandwich?' " said Wil
Marchant, 40, who works for a financial services firm in Winnipeg.
The transformations are paying off.
Concessions revenue from
food, beverage, retail, and services at U.S. airports reached $1.5
billion in 2011, up 12 percent from the year before, according to
Airports Council International-North America, which represents the vast
majority of governing bodies that own and operate commercial airports.
The new business model
has helped airports like San Francisco International, which finished its
major refurbishment of Terminal 2 in April 2011. The design is sleek,
super-modern, and playful, with children and adults spinning in comfy
swivel chairs around coffee tables placed at every gate. Check-in desks,
imposingly high at some airports, were lowered to look more like hotel
concierge desks.
"What we were aiming for
is a four- or five-star hotel experience for passengers in the terminal
building," said airport director John L. Martin.
The average spent per
passenger at the terminal is now about $14. That's 22 percent more than
domestic travelers spend at the airport's other terminals.
At O'Hare, where once
there was little more than hot dogs and souvenir shops, domestic
terminals are now dotted with restaurants led by celebrity chefs like
Rick Bayless, piano bars, and a tranquil aeroponic herb garden - a mini
forest of green on a quiet mezzanine level.
"It's pretty amazing. . .
. I didn't expect that to be here," said grad student David Janesko,
30, reading a book in a comfy lounge chair beside the garden on his way
to see family in Pittsburgh.
But airport bliss doesn't come cheap, and its price can be a little jarring for passengers.
Back at the Ice Bar,
which offers 23 vodkas and four kinds of ice (crushed, cubes, or
sphere), blues musician and actor Cedric "Catfish" Turner was lamenting
that his Jack Daniel's on the rocks cost $11. But he needed it, he said,
to ease a headache from a long layover.
Source: http://www.philly.com
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