The World’s Most Beautiful Airports

Following up on last week’s article “The World’s Ugliest Airports,” today we’re looking at the other end of the runway, reviewing Travel + Leisure‘s thoughts as to which of the world’s airports they consider the most beautiful. As with last week’s review, I don’t agree with all of the choices but I think overall they pretty much hit the mark. Decades ago, back in the 1950s and 1960s, air travel was fairly glamorous and some air terminals followed suit. Just think of Eero Saarinen’s beautiful masterpiece, the landmark TWA terminal at JFK Airport — a beautiful piece of architectural art that became a celebrated landmark of New York’s largest airport. Few airport terminals today can reach such status due to numerous limitations. One limitation faced by architects in designing a modern term

Beijing Airport / hoto: Jim Ferri

inal is just the lack of space at the larger airports, since many new terminals are usually constructed on the footprint of the old. Then, of course, today’s designers must also provide a large amount of space for security and other TSA operations, something that was unheard of in the ‘50s and ‘60s when the space could have been used in a more “inviting manner.”

And, finally, of course, there is the changing nature of air travel itself which has impacted design. Years ago one flew from city A to city B. Today, however, one may have to change planes at one, or sometimes two, other airports en route to B, resulting in more crowded airports as travelers shuffle from one connecting flight to another.

All of this has had an impact on the beautification of airports worldwide. Major airports such as JFK, Heathrow and Paris’s CDG are older facilities, which were pieced together over the years as needs changed. Newer airports such as Beijing have an advantage since the they were built from the ground up and haven’t needed to shoehorn buildings into an existing facility.

With that said here’s a look Travel + Leisure’s selection of what they consider the most “gorgeous” and “well-designed” airports in the world.

1) Terminal 3, Beijing International Airport: built to enhance the image of China in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, Beijing International Airport is massive. The design is engaging but it is so huge – 2 miles long and one of the largest buildings in the world – that it takes seemingly forever to reach baggage claim after you have disembarked from your aircraft. (If there is one silver lining in this cloud it is that your luggage is waiting for you by the time you reach baggage claim.) Due to an ill conceived design that forces many travelers to walk vast distances, I would have relegated this airport to last week’s list.

Barajas Airport, Madrid / photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra

2) Terminal 4, Barajas Airport, Madrid: opened five years ago, Barajas is Spain’s hope of becoming the major airport of Europe. Colorful pylons support an undulating roof, which provides canyons filled with daylight for passing travelers, putting “you inside a rainbow that stretches for half a mile,” said one architecture critic.

TWA Terminal, JFK New York / phtot: Evan P. Cordes

3) TWA Terminal, JFK, New York City: it seems strange to me that the old TWA terminal, despite its beauty, would be included in this listing since it has been abandoned for a decade. On the other hand, the terminal is now owned by JetBlue who has built a magnificent terminal behind it. The great hope is that one day the two terminals will be connected, allowing travelers to once again pass through this magnificent space although at that point it will likely only function as a space for shops and restaurants.

Carrasco International Airport, Montevideo / photo: Jimmy Baikovicius

4) Carrasco International Airport, Montevideo, Uruguay: opened two years ago this airport is more reminiscent of New York City’s old JFK, then is the new JFK. The building’s roof, a simple 1000-foot long low arch is as “simple as a child’s drawing of an airport.”

Sondika Airport, Bilbao / photo: Yuichi Shiraishi

5) Sondika Airport, Bilbao, Spain: nicknamed “La Paloma” (“The Dove”) for its

birdlike silhouette, the building is minimalistic in appearance, “an unadorned study in sunlight and the rhythmic patterns” of the building.

Five additional airports rounding out the list include’s Denver International Airport; Incheon International Airport, South Korea; Marrakesh Menara Airport, Morocco; Chek Lap Kok Airport, Hong Kong; and Tempelhof International Airport, Berlin.