Ask anyone who has been to Malaysia lately what she remembers most from the visit, and the answer is bound to include the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, or KLIA.
For first-time visitors in particular, KLIA, a forest within an airport, is an overwhelming experience that supersedes in its novelty even the Petronas Twin Towers, until recently the tallest building in the world.
Ask the same question of those who visit Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai or Seoul, and you will get similar answers. Airports invariably figure among visitors' first memories of places -- and first memories have been known to leave the most lasting impressions.
It's little wonder, therefore, that nations across the world have been paying so much attention to building spectacular, passenger-friendly airports.
Some of these are admired as works of art. Some have become tourist attractions in their own right.
A great airport revolution is sweeping through Asia, sending a strong message of welcome to people everywhere, and it's not a surprise that, in the latest Skytrax survey, five Asian airports figured in the world's Top 10.
Once again, Hong Kong was No 1, followed by Singapore Changi at No 2, Seoul Incheon at No 3, Osaka's Kansai International at No 5, and KLIA at No. 7.
Wait till Beijing's Olympic Terminal opens in 2008, and Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi in 2006, and two-thirds of the top slots could be Asia's.
Seoul Incheon is Asia's newest international airport, three years old. A $5-billion marvel of steel, glass, aluminium, and stone, it has set itself the goal to be the flying hub -- the "Winged City," as it calls itself -- for entire north-east Asia and has planned its future physical growth in a way that would be more than adequate to handle 100 million passengers by 2020 against 23 million it handled last year.
The new Beijing terminal, for which preliminary designs have just been completed, is going to be another Norman Foster wonder -- after Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok -- larger than all the four terminals at Heathrow put together.
The entire area will be under a single 80-acre roof shaped like a dragon and designed to evoke the poetry of flight.
Located just 25 km from downtown Bangkok, in Samut Prakarn province, Suvarnabhumi will replace Don Muang, currently the 22nd busiest airport in the world.
Designed by architects Murphy/Jahn, it will have over 6 million sq ft of passenger terminals, 120 parking bays, and 51 contact gates, with an immediate capacity to handle 45 million passengers annually and 76 flights every hour.
The entire complex will be unified by a large roof trellis, from which the ticketing and other facilities will be suspended. Outdoor spaces between the buildings, covered by the same roof, will become landscaped courtyards, suffusing the place in a soothing spread of green.
If these new-age airports have anything to tell us, it's this: Herding passengers through immigration and customs is not the only reason they are there.
When tens of millions of passengers pass every year (27 million passed through Beijing in 2004, 30 million through Bangkok, 30.4 million through Singapore, and 36 million through Hong Kong) or hundreds of flights take off or land every day (786 in Hong Kong in March 2005), airports become hubs, connecting points, and places for long waits where people need to divert themselves, do business, check with contacts, besides resting, dining, and shopping.
And airports need to be clean, comfortable, attractive, and interesting enough for people not to feel bored or disgusted.
Today's airports, therefore, are increasingly like mini cities, complete with services, facilities, and activities, combining downtown excitement and suburban charm, where even long waits won't be a waste of time or tell on your nerves.
With Asia's share of the world air traffic projected to grow from the present 16 per cent to over 20 per cent in the next 20 years, building global-class airports is the only way to stay in, or ahead of, the competition.
For some, the goal is even more ambitious. Hong Kong is building a massive 57-hectare adjunct, opposite the existing passenger terminal, that will take the concept of a modern airport to a different level altogether.
Known as SkyCity, the $2.6-billion project is planned as a multi-modal transport and business complex, complete with a fully-equipped international exhibition centre, a pier for cross-boundary passenger ferries, a nine-hole executive golf course, a 100,000 sq m of retail and business plaza, two office blocks offering 90,000 sq m of corporate space, 54 additional airline check-in counters, and a 1,000-room hotel with a wing of service apartments.
Where's India in all this? That's a question Praful Patel should be asking, having opened up the Indian sky. He isn't. He's seized with a more fundamental question of philosophy: Where to draw the line for private investments in India's airports?
