Us airports face ever longer delays

Wired Magazine has rated the US airports that face the longest delays and rendered it in a useful Google Map. It makes grim reading for anyone flying in or through the States. "The year 2007 was the worst for flight delays," it reads, "since the [US] government began keeping stats more than a decade ago. In 2002, 17 percent of flights arrived late (defined by the Federal Air Authority as delayed 15 minutes or more). Last summer it was nearly a third, and travel in 2008 won't be much better."


Newark Liberty is bottom of the list, racking up an astonishing average of 72.8 minutes for arrival delays and 67.3 minutes for departures

Brandenburg International is taking shape

Although not due for take-off until 2011, a steady flow of images and architectural drawings are flowing out of the offices of Berlin Brandenburg International (BBI). The overdue replacement for Berlin-Schönefeld BBI will replace the three airports currently serving the German capital. As you can see from the image to the left, the development promises some fantastically futuristic architecture, such as the
Infotower, which is already under construction.

Berlin clearly needs a world-class airport, but in gaining BBI, it will perhaps lose one of the world's most historic and interesting. It's worth recalling the architectural grandeur of Tempelhof, scene of the Berlin airlift, a beautiful little airport that remains operational to this day (but only just).

Ease equals MP2

Going back to the Jonathan Glancey review of the new terminal at London Heathrow, I notice that he makes an excellent point towards to foot of the article about the possible future of all airports. Glancey, The Guardian's architecture critic summons praise for Marseilles-Provence terminal two [in French], commonly known as MP2.

Glancey writes: "The new MP2 serving the French Riviera ... suggests an alternative to the notionally glamorous example of [Heathrow] T5. Designed and built to serve no-frills airlines, MP2 is essentially a revamped cargo shed. Passengers carry their own bags and walk to the aircraft. Services are kept to a minimum. Who really needs more than a straightforward cafe-bar, a newsagent and clean lavatories?"

Maybe. But the most surprising thing is the cost. The funky little boutique airport(see the flickr image above) cost just $25m.

Paris airpors rate as the worst in the world to sleep

The excellent Sleeping in Airports has recently published its top 10 best and worst airports to sleep in across the world. Regular visitors to the site will have no surprise that Singapore once more tops to favourites list, followed by Hong Kong, Seoul Incheon and Helsinki.

Surprisingly, Paris Charles de Gaulle now tops the "airports we most hate to sleep in poll". Paris's premier airport once hosted Merhan Karimi Nasseri (the inspiration for Stephen Spielberg's Terminal) for 16 years. But, according to the user-generated comments on the site, people wouldn't want to sleep there right now. According to one anonymous sleeper: "the terminals were full of homeless people who smelled bad, touched themselves in inappropriate places" ... another wrote .... "We moved several times because of homeless people bothering us and other travelers mocking us". Paris actually featured twice on the list, its third airport, Beauvais which is used mostly by Ryanair was described by one user as " a kind of portababin with a gazebo attached". The airport came sixth in the worst of all poll after JFK, Moscow Sheremetyevo, Los Angeles and Manila.