International airport

'' International Short Empire flying boat services arriving at Rose Bay, Sydney () In August 1919, Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, in London, England, was the first airport to operate scheduled international commercial services. It was closed and supplanted by Croydon Airport in March 1920. In the United States, Douglas Municipal Airport in Arizona became the first international airport of the Americas in 1928. The precursors to international airports were airfields or aerodromes. In the early days of international flights, infrastructure was limited, "although if engine problems arose there were plenty of places where aircraft could land". Since four-engined land planes were unavailable for over-water operations to international destinations, flying boats became part of the solution. At the far end of the longest international route (which became the Kangaroo Route), on-water landing areas were found in places such as Surabaya and in the open sea off Kupang. In Sydney, Rose Bay, New South Wales, was chosen as the flying-boat landing area. The advent in the early 1960s of jet aircraft such as the Boeing 707 with the range to fly non-stop between Australia or New Zealand and Hawaii, meant that a mid-Pacific stop was no longer needed and the airport was closed to regular commercial use. Other international airports, such as Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, have been decommissioned and replaced when they reached capacity or technological advances rendered them inadequate. == Design and construction ==

Airbus A319 at the Helsinki Airport in Vantaa, Finland. Terminal expansion construction site in the background. The construction and operation of an international airport depends on a complicated set of decisions that are affected by technology, politics, economics and geography as well as both local and international law. Designing an airport even for domestic traffic or as "non-hub" has, from the beginning, required extensive co-ordination between users and interested parties – architects, engineers, managers and staff all need to be involved. Airports may also be regarded as emblematic of national pride and so the design may be architecturally ambitious. An example was the planned New Mexico City international airport, intended to replace an airport that has reached capacity. Airports can be towered or non-towered, depending on air traffic density and available funds. Because of high capacity and busy airspace, many international airports have air traffic control located on site. Some international airports require construction of additional infrastructure outside of the airport, such as at the Hong Kong International Airport, which included the construction of a high-speed railway and automobile expressway to connect the airport to the urban areas of Hong Kong. Construction of the expressway included the construction of two bridges (the Tsing Ma suspension bridge and Kap Shui Mun cable bridge) and the Ma Wan viaduct on Ma Wan island to connect the bridges. Each bridge carries rail and automobile traffic. == Operations and management ==

screen at Charles de Gaulle Airport's Terminal 2 showing flight arrivals International airports have commercial relationships with and provide services to airlines and passengers from around the world. Many also serve as hubs, or places where non-direct flights may land and passengers may switch planes, while others serve primarily direct point-to-point flights. This affects airport design factors, including the number and placement of terminals as well as the flow of passengers and baggage between different areas of the airport. An airport specializing in point-to-point transit can have international and domestic terminals, each in their separate building equipped with separate baggage handling facilities. In a hub airport, however, spaces and services are shared. Airport management have to take into account a wide range of factors, among which are the performance of airlines, the technical requirements of aircraft, airport-airline relationships, services for travelling customers, security and environmental impacts. Standards Technical standards for safety and operating procedures at international airports are set by international agreements. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), formed in 1945, is the association of the airline companies. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a body of the United Nations succeeding earlier international committees going back to 1903. These two organizations served to create regulations over airports which the airports themselves had no authority to debate. This eventually sparked an entire subject of air travel politics. In January 1948, 19 representatives from various US commercial airports met for the first time in New York City to seek resolution to common problems they each faced, which initiated the formation of the Airport Operators Council, which later became Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA). This group included representatives from Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Francisco and Washington. Flight logistics International airports have extensive operations in managing flight logistics, such as air traffic control. The latter service is provided by ground-based controllers who coordinate and direct aircraft on the ground and through controlled airspace. Air traffic control also provides advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airspace. Customs and immigration Passport inspection at Dublin Airport (2007) Airports with international flights have customs and immigration facilities, which allow right of entry. These change over time but are generally designated by law. However, as some countries have agreements that allow connecting flights without customs and immigrations, such facilities do not define an international airport. Security and safety , travelers to the United States can "pre-clear" U.S. immigration (2008) The current trend of enhancing security at the cost of passenger and baggage handling efficiency at international airports is expected to continue in the future. This places financial burden on airports, risks the flow of servicing processes, and has implications for the privacy of passengers. To ensure the viability of airport operations, new and innovative security systems are being developed. For instance, the old security checkpoints can be replaced by a "total security area" encompassing an entire airport, coupled with automatic surveillance of passengers from the moment they enter the airport until they embark on a plane. While these standards are regulated by ICAO Standards And Recommended Practices (SARPs) and WHO's International Health Regulations (IHR), local authorities have considerable say in how they are implemented. Transportation Among the most important airport services are further transportation connections, including rail networks, taxi and shuttle services at curbside pick-up areas, and public buses. File:Hong Kong International Airport, Terminal 1, Food Court in the Restricted Area (Hong Kong).jpg|The food court in the restricted area of Terminal 1 at Hong Kong International Airport (2013) Customer satisfaction awards The World Airport Awards are voted by consumers in an independent global customer satisfaction survey. Singapore Changi Airport was the first-place winner in 2020. Other winners include Incheon International Airport (South Korea) and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (The Netherlands). == Airport names ==

in October 2004. 's main terminal building in May 2010. in July 2018. Toponymy is one of the most common sources for the naming of airports. A number of areas close to them have lent their names, including villages, estates, city districts, historical areas and regions, islands and even a waterfall. Sometimes the toponym is combined with or renamed to incorporate another name from another source such as from one of the following: • Athletes such as George Best Belfast City Airport in Belfast, Northern Ireland. • Aviators such as pilots (civil and military) and others who played a role in the development of aviation- like Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru, named after Peruvian-French pilot Jorge Chavez, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, named after Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith, or Sabiha Gökçen International Airport named after Turkish Female Pilot Sabiha Gökçen • Cultural leaders (poets, artists, writers, musicians) - like the John Lennon Airport in the English city of Liverpool, where John Lennon and The Beatles came from, Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, named for Puerto Rican singer and actor Rafael Hernandez, and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in New Orleans, Louisiana, named for jazz artist Louis Armstrong. • Ethnic groups, such as Minangkabau International Airport in Padang, Indonesia, named after the local Minangkabau people. • Ideals in combination with toponyms, such as Newark Liberty International Airport. • Mythology and religion, such as heroes of epics and myths, church hierarchs and saints and similar names. A notable example of this is El Dorado International Airport. • Politicians and statesmen such as the O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa which was named after O.R. Tambo who was a South African anti-apartheid politician and Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines to honour the former Senator of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino Jr. who was assassinated at the exact airport in 1983. Some airports have been named after dictators during their dictatorship; such is the case of the Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, named after Robert Mugabe, and, in the past Saddam International Airport in Baghdad, Iraq, so named after Saddam Hussein. Some airports were formerly International, for example Atatürk International Airport, named from founding father of the Republic of Türkiye's Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. More notable examples are two of the three New York City airports: LaGuardia Airport (named after Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (named after the 35th President of the United States). In addition, the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, was named after two former mayors: William B. Hartsfield and Maynard Jackson. • Public figures (advocates, engineers, doctors, teachers, journalists or sportspeople), such as John Wayne Airport, named after an actor. • Royalty (kings, queens) such as King Shaka International Airport in Durban, South Africa which was named after King Shaka who was one of the most influential monarchs of the Zulu Kingdom. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, India, named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the leader of the Maratha empire from 1674 to 1680. • Scientists such as Galileo Galilei Airport in Pisa which was named after Galileo Galilei. A study found that 44 percent of the world's international airports are named by toponyms: named for politicians (thirty percent), aviators (seven percent), mythology and religion (three percent), public figures (two percent), people of science (two percent) and other (one percent). Airports also use an IATA-3 letter code for identification. Some airports are nicknamed after these codes, such as JFK, BWI, DFW, LAX, YYZ, FCO, and CDG. Airports even use an ICAO-4 letter code for identification. Some airports are nicknamed after these codes, such as VABB, KLAX, KATL, KJFK, OMDB, KLGA and VOMM An "international airport" can be named as such by providing customs and border control facilities to enable international flights, regardless of whether international flights currently operate to or from the airport. For example, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility has been in place at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport since July 1, 2012, but no scheduled international flights have been inaugurated to or from Bozeman since. == Notable airports ==

By historical event • 1919 (August) Hounslow Heath Aerodrome begins operating scheduled international commercial services from England to France. • 1933 Douglas International Airport in Arizona is honored by Eleanor Roosevelt as "the first international airport of the Americas", having reached this capacity in 1928. • Los Angeles International Airport is considered to have the greatest number of passengers who start or end their travel there as opposed to continuing on to a connecting flight. Overall, LAX is considered to be the 7th busiest airport in the world. • Dubai International Airport is the busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic, with 83,105,798 international passengers. Dubai is the third busiest airport worldwide. Other • Svalbard Airport in Svalbard, Norway is the northernmost airport to which tourists can book tickets. It is primarily used for transporting miners to and from a cluster of islands with a heavy mining industry. • King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia is the largest airport in the world, encompassing over . • The world's longest active scheduled passenger flight by great-circle distance operates between Changi Airport (in Singapore) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (in New York City, United States); the great-circle distance between the two airports is . == See also ==