Airports In The World Without Windows?

KLM685 · Sun Jan 01, 2006 5:51 am

Watching some pictures from MEX after it's "modernization" stage, I found something quite surprising.

MEX does not have windows anymore!! Apparently authorities and architects thought it was a very good idea to put all this silver fence to cover all the terminal facade , but the only thing they did was to eliminate the already few windows the airport had.

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Photo © Ricardo Morales Aviation Photography of Mexico

In fact, still the terminal is now already crowded and ridiculously small, you feel like having claustrophobia inside and in a desperate need of air!!! Now with no windows it must feel terrible :s Sincerely I don't know what they had in mind.

REAL modern airports have bigger windows and are full of glass everywhere. They try to make themselves big and spacious, so why was this done to MEX??

It would be nice if someone could share some opinions about this or if anyone knows of another airport in the world that's in the same situation.

Cheers

Alonso

MYRIJET · Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:29 am

Totally Agree Alonso.
Now MEX is worst than in the worst era of Former East Bloc Nations in the days of the Iron Curtain or Mao's China.

Its a Shame what they have done to our "Modern" Airport banghead

I wonder if this will be the fate of Terminal two also. talktothehand

KLM685 · Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:34 am

Quoting MYRIJET (Reply 1):
I wonder if this will be the fate of Terminal two also

According to the drawings it won't be like T1...hopefully.

caribb · Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:41 am

At YUL (Montreal) you no longer have a viewing area in the terminal to see planes outside. The only place they are "viewable" is at the gates so only the flying public and employees can see any aircraft from the inside of the airport.

mNeo · Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:42 am

LHR T4 does not have that many windows. One can see the tarmak here and there but for most of the time i feel like im in a tunnel. There are some great viewing locations, but over all not to many windows

pilot320 · Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:59 am

In Croatia, airports in Pula and Zadar also don´t have windows, but you can see apron from car park.

Basas · Sun Jan 01, 2006 7:00 am

I like some of the Hawaiian airports who don't have windows, just open air!

KLM685 · Sun Jan 01, 2006 7:03 am

Quoting Caribb (Reply 3):
The only place they are "viewable" is at the gates so only the flying public and employees can see any aircraft from the inside of the airport.

That's how it was a few months ago! First the totally covered the parking lot so people just couldn't stay there watching, but not they covered the whole airport, so now one is allowed to see which plane he/she is going to ride too until destination.

Euclid · Sun Jan 01, 2006 5:00 pm

Quoting Caribb (Reply 3):
At YUL (Montreal) you no longer have a viewing area in the terminal to see planes outside. The only place they are "viewable" is at the gates so only the flying public and employees can see any aircraft from the inside of the airport.

That sucks. Johannesburg had absolutely no viewing facilities for spectators for close to two years while renovations was going on. It was horrible being there and having no way of seeing the activities outside. Fortunately the new domestic terminal has a fairly decent viewing area.

CrazyHorse · Sun Jan 01, 2006 8:15 pm

As far as I know the domestic terminal in CNS also have no windows. It was quite boring to wait 1 hour with a look at the aircrafts at the aiport.

hodja · Mon Jan 02, 2006 2:09 am

Beirut airport is also kinda claustrophobic - few windows available anywhere, like T4 at LHR...

jfklganyc · Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:44 am

The old T4 at JFK had no windows.

PJ

airfoilsguy · Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:56 am

What excuse could they have for building an airport with no windows? Other then being in a war zone, I can't see a good reason for not having windows.

AeroTycoon · Sat Jan 07, 2006 1:11 pm

Thousands of airports around the world have no windows whatsoever.

AnMCOSon · Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:14 pm

The old terminal in Pittsburgh had a few gates with no windows. If I remember correctly, at the end of the one concourse theres were windows, but only half windows up near the ceiling.

ghost77 · Sun Jan 22, 2006 2:15 pm

Well, certainly T1 of MEX looks awful! Hopefully T2 brings big windows for us to take good pictures from the inside!!!

ghost77 APM

schipholjfk · Sun Jan 22, 2006 2:50 pm

Quoting JFKLGANYC (Reply 11):
The old T4 at JFK had no windows.

That's not totally true. At one time you were able to step out and look through the glass window/pane in the arrivals hall behind the "great" old-style schedule board on the second floor. You could even sneak through some small opening to eveb peer down into the immigration/customs area. I have great memories of those days waiting for my parents to arrive from Europe or Asia. It was limited view, but I remember once watching my an Air India 747 land.

The departure lounge totally sucked. I used to feel so claustrophobic waiting for departure. The new T4 is such a great transformation.

OB1783P · Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:57 pm

The original CDG building (Terminal 1) is donut shaped, with all the windows in the donut hole: no way to see planes while eating, shopping, resting. However, from the gates, you can see the planes very well.

One peeve of mine: the lighting at EWR. At night, what do I see in the windows: my dopey reflection...

bananaboy · Mon Jan 30, 2006 3:31 am

Quoting Pilot320 (Reply 5):
In Croatia, airports in Pula and Zadar also don´t have windows, but you can see apron from car park.

Can't speak for Zadar, but Pula Airport certainly does have windows, at least once through security. It even has an upstairs viewing area, though it is rarely open.

Mark

Vasu · Mon Jan 30, 2006 3:40 am

Quoting MNeo (Reply 4):
LHR T4 does not have that many windows. One can see the tarmak here and there but for most of the time i feel like im in a tunnel. There are some great viewing locations, but over all not to many windows

I personally found no lack of windows in LHR T4...

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Photo © Christopher Hammarborg

Its the other terminals, in my opinion, that lack windows!

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Photo © Paul Spijkers

GVWOW · Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:25 am

When in LHR T3, It seems like you could just as well be in an underground shopping mall in Montreal. Even at the gates, there are virtually no windows. The only real windows are in the clubhouse.
Also, the old BOS terminal E though a really cool terminal, had an astonishing lack of windows. The gate area was just a long dark carpeted hall with doors on the walls for gates and shops on either side. In fact, the entire terminal, check-in hall and all, was so dark, you'd get blinded by daylight when you came to the end of the jetway!

Sabena332 · Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:31 am

Quoting Basas (Reply 6):
I like some of the Hawaiian airports who don't have windows, just open air!

I saw the same at LAX (sorry, no idea what terminal, I flew on N7 to LAS in June 2000, any idea which terminal they used?), there was an open air smoking area and you could watch CO planes rolling to their gate or being pushed back. One of my favourite places at any airport worldwide!

Patrick

Matt D · Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:30 am

N7 (National) used the west side of Terminal 6 at LAX. Gate 61 if memory serves correctly. The outdoor area at LAX was also at Terminal 6, but midway down the concourse on the east side. here is a picture of a Continental MD-80 taken from that spot circa 1994.

Also shown is a tail of a National 757 from the inside of the terminal at LAS, circa 2000.

deltairlines · Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:42 am

The UA gates in ATL have no windows...I believe there are some in the Red Carpet Club, but none at the gates.

CHO has a nice open-air observation deck. Spent a good 30 minutes out there in mid-September a couple of years ago...was quite serene...just me and the silence of a quiet airfield (until a UA J-41 spooled up the props).

Jeff

runway23 · Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:47 am

LHR T4 actually has quite a lot of windows.

If you want to mention an airport that has made itself famous for its lack of windows is Luton, though this has probably changed since they inaugurated their new terminal (I wouldn't know, don't fly out of that bombshelter).

Cadet57 · Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:50 am

BDL terminal B at the AA gates has a few windows at the to of the ceiling like 15-20 feet up, and little lige comes out them, so much for that big remodel....

ltbewr · Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:52 am

The inclulusion of more shops and expanded security facilities had taken away many of the windows in some airport terminals, especially older designs and structures. Some newer terminals, like the McNamara Terminal at DTW, has a lot of windows in the gate areas as they were designed with more room for security checkpoints and shops from it's beginning. Lots of windows also put a heavy load on the air conditioning and heating, especially the a/c in the summer. That could also be a factor at MEX and other airport terminals for having limited amounts of windows.

Sabena332 · Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:32 am

Quoting Matt D (Reply 22):
N7 (National) used the west side of Terminal 6 at LAX. Gate 61 if memory serves correctly. The outdoor area at LAX was also at Terminal 6, but midway down the concourse on the east side. here is a picture of a Continental MD-80 taken from that spot circa 1994.

Thanks for the info, Matt!

Quoting Matt D (Reply 22):
Also shown is a tail of a National 757 from the inside of the terminal at LAS, circa 2000.

That brings back memories, too bad they aren't flying anymore, I really liked them!

Patrick

baw716 · Tue Jan 31, 2006 7:47 am

JFK Terminal 3. Its a brick building. Very few windows.

baw716

N908AW · Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:44 pm

The old HHH terminal at MSP was God-Awful. Holy cow. Think oversized Lutheran fellowship hall.

dlednicer · Tue Jan 31, 2006 2:47 pm

Quoting MYRIJET (Reply 1):
Now MEX is worst than in the worst era of Former East Bloc Nations in the days of the Iron Curtain or Mao's China.

I discovered that both the Kunming and Guilin (China) airports have windows - that open! The guards didn't seem to care when I leaned out with my camera to take pictures and the swivel LCD display on my Canon came in real handy:

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TimRees · Wed Feb 01, 2006 12:52 am

Over the years the number of windows at LHR's terminals 1, 2 and 3 have decreased in direct proportion to the increase in the number of shops! The terminals are just like shopping malls these days.

LGW is similar, but on the upper floors on the airside of the terminal there are cafes and bars from which you can see most of the apron.

I've heard there's to be no specific viewing area at LHR T5 but I think glass is going to feature extensively in the design. Airports such as HKG and to a lesser extent SIN are fantastic designs due to the huge quantities of glass used in their constructions.

More glass the better I'd say!

Olympus69 · Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:47 am

I always found T2 at YYZ to be claustrophobic. Not only virtually no windows, but low ceilings as well.

ACYWG · Wed Feb 01, 2006 2:24 am

Quoting Olympus69 (Reply 32):
I always found T2 at YYZ to be claustrophobic. Not only virtually no windows, but low ceilings as

I can see the low cielings, but lack of windows? That terminal was ringed with windows! The only real problem was that in the international/US departure areas there was a corridor between the lounges and the outside windows, so you had a glare/reflection problem due to double layer of glass.

Olympus69 · Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:12 am

Quoting ACYWG (Reply 33):
I can see the low ceilings, but lack of windows? That terminal was ringed with windows!

You must be talking airside. I can only remember one window groundside that gave a view of any planes. That was at the end closest to T1 and had a restricted view of planes taxiing to a gate. I don't think I ever flew from T2. My visits have mainly been for meeting people.

JohnJ · Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:01 am

Quoting Cadet57 (Reply 25):
BDL terminal B at the AA gates has a few windows at the to of the ceiling like 15-20 feet up, and little lige comes out them, so much for that big remodel....

In all fairness, Bradley's Terminal B hasn't been renovated and won't be in use for too much longer. American, Jazz, Georgian, and Skyway/Midwest Express Connection are the only airlines left over there. Terminal A is the new terminal at BDL and it has nice, big, and (usually) clean windows.

SouthwestMDW · Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:04 am

Gates A1 and A2 have no windows at MDW. I don't think A3 has them either.

NZCH · Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:54 am

What about Glasgow prestwick it only has windows at the entrance to the terminal, but things might have changed as the Last time I was there was in October 2003. And in the departures lounge there was only a few windows but you would had to be extremely tall, as they were high up.

Regards NZCH

ACYWG · Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:58 am

Quoting Olympus69 (Reply 34):
You must be talking airside.

I was.

AJO · Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:08 pm

The TIP (Tripoli International, Libya) and BEN (Benghazi Benina, Libya) terminals do not have windows facing airside. It's probably due to the fact that these airports also serve as airforce bases.

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