5 Most Hitech Airports in USA…

From check-in to the gangway, the airport sets the tone for your trip. Whether traveling for business or pleasure, modern advancements in airport services and amenities have exponentially increased in the past few years with high-tech innovation.

Nearing an age the Jetsons could barely imagine, today’s cutting-edge airports stand out with features such as integrated iPads, indoor navigation systems, and, of course, plentiful WiFi.

Book a flight out of the 10 most high-tech airports in the U.S. for the best modern conveniences of tomorrow, today.

HARTSFIELD-JACKSON ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

1 HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport

As the country’s busiest and largest airport, the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport delivers a high-tech experience to match its size. Of high importance in the digital age, access to outlets is plentiful and robust in the airport’s gates, primarily led by Delta’s initiative to install free-standing charging stations with multiple electrical outlets and USB ports, averaging a high 8.1 outlets per gate in the airport.

The airport also provides more than 200 powered workspaces allowing passengers to recharge on the go. Recent advancements in high-tech marketing incorporate QR codes on advertisements throughout the airport, rewarding customers who scan the codes with special promotions and discounts in the airport’s shops and restaurants.

WiFi: Free.

 

MINNEAPOLIS–ST. PAUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

2 MinneapolisSaint Paul International Airport

When traveling through Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, plan to arrive early enough to enjoy one of the terminal’s 1200 integrated iPads throughout Delta’s Concourse G. Located throughout the terminal and at almost every seat inside the terminal’s nine restaurants, travelers are able to tap and swipe their way through the virtual menu to customize orders that are delivered to their tables or gates in fifteen minutes or less. The iPads also offer entertainment, access to Facebook and Twitter, and the ability to check your email.

DALLAS/FORT WORTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

3 Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

Making great strides in offering a high-tech travel experience, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport partnered with Samsung to enhance many of the airport’s gates. The partnership has spun dozens of charging stations and seven mobile travel lounges, modern and sleek public lounges that offer respite from the chaos of the gate and provide plenty of outlets at all seating stations.

When it comes to the frustrations of parking your car, DFW has created a new hassle-free parking facility for Terminal A. Upgrading the structure with sensors and lights above each parking space, red and green signals provide drivers real-time information on unoccupied spaces, dramatically reducing the stress of seeking out an available spot. Continuing to advance in functionality, the smart garage is synced to the airport’s mobile app, giving customers advance information on parking availability.

CHICAGO O’HARE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

6 Chicago OHare International Airport

As one of the busiest airports in the country, Chicago O’Hare International Airport has continued to expand its high-tech offerings to meet the demands of its worldly travelers. Partnering with two apps, FlySmart and B4 You Board, O’Hare offers fresh meal delivery to your gate, along with a host of other navigation features, special offers, and flight status updates.

Most excitingly, O’Hare is in the works to unveil a new mobile platform to enable travelers to submit their passports and customs declaration information via their smartphones. And perhaps one of the most innovative advancements in airport hygiene, most toilets at O’Hare now feature motorized toilet seat covers that provide a fresh plastic cover after each use.

AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

9 Austin Bergstrom International Airport

As one of the first airports in the country to feature WiFi back in 2000, the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has always been on the forefront of tech-forward travel. Arriving in the airport from an international destination could not be simpler, as the airport’s eight Automated Passport Control kiosks and six Global Entry kiosks significantly help in expediting screening.

The smart new Automated Passport Control kiosks scan your passport, take your photograph, and provide a series of questions verifying biographic and flight information before issuing a receipt that is brought to a customs officer. Austin-Bergstrom’s “One-Stop” innovation allows international passengers to pick up their checked luggage first so the passengers and luggage can be cleared in one step.
Source………www.businessinsider.com

Natarajan

 

Most Extreme Runways in the World …

Long lines, terse agents, overpriced food and delays – in the world of travel, airports are notorious for being necessary obstacles standing between travellers and their final destinations. But according to users of the question-and-answer site Quora.com, at the world’s most unique airports, the take-offs and landings make it all worth the ride.

A death-defying descent
Nepal’s Tenzing-Hillary Airport is built for adventurers. Tucked high in the Himalayan town of Lukla, the airport’s 460m runway has a steep 12% incline, making it only accessible to helicopters and small, fixed-wing planes. To the north of the runway, there are mountains, and to the south is a steep, nearly 600m drop, leaving absolutely no room for error.

The terrifying airstrip serves as an entry point for mountain climbers who are keen to tackle the world’s tallest mountain. “This is where most Everest summiters land,” wrote Quora userAmy Robinson. “It is one of the most dangerous airports in the world.”

Perhaps it’s appropriate, then, that this airport was named after the region’s most famous adventurers: Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, the first people to reach Everest’s summit.

Tenzing-Hillary Airport, Lukla, Himalayas, Nepal (Credit: Credit: Prakash Mathema/Getty)

A harrowing Himalayan runway Credit: Prakash Mathema/Getty)

A runway under water
At high tide, the runway of Scotland’s Barra Airport is nowhere to be seen.

“The airport is unique, being the only one in the world where scheduled flights use a beach as the runway,” wrote Quora user Amit Kushwaha. As such, flight times are dictated by the tide.

Barra Airport, Traigh Mhor beach, Outer Hebrides, Scotland (Credit: Credit: Califer001/Barra Airport/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0)

A wet and wild take-off at Scotland’s Barra Airport. (Credit: Califer001/Barra Airport/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Located in the shallow bay of Traigh Mhor beach on Barra Island in the Outer Hebrides, the airport’s runways are laid out in a triangular formation and are marked by wooden poles to help guide the Twin Otter propeller planes onto the sand.

A stretch for tropical take-offs
For pilots, landing at the Maldives’ Male International Airportis daunting. The lone asphalt runway – which lies just two metres above sea level – takes up the entire length of Hulhule Island in the North Male Atoll, so a minor miscalculation could send the plane careening off into the Indian Ocean.

Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, Male International Airport, Hulhule Island, Maldives (Credit: Credit: Thinkstock)

Landing on a tropical island in the Maldives. (Credit: Thinkstock)

“[It’s] one of the few airports in the world that begins and ends with water and takes up an entire island,” wrote Quora userPeter Baskerville.

Because Hulhule Island (one of 1,192 coral islands spread over roughly 90,000sqkm) is used mainly for the airport, visitors typically take speedboats to their final destinations once they land.

Hit the brakes
Landing at Juancho E Yrausquin Airport, on the Caribbean island of Saba, “is not for the faint of heart,” wrote Quora userDhairya Manek.

That’s because it is widely regarded as having the shortest commercially serviceable runway in the world – approximately 396m. (Typically, runways are between 1,800m and 2,400m.) That means only small aircraft, which can quickly decrease speed, can land here.

Juancho E Yrausquin Airport, Saba, Caribbean (Credit: Credit: Patrick Hawks/Juancho E Yrausquin Airport/Flickr/CC BY 2.0)

The world’s shortest runway. (Credit: Patrick Hawks/Juancho E Yrausquin Airport/Flickr/CC BY 2.0)

Its setting is as beautiful as it is dangerous. “The airport’s runway is located on a cliff that drops into the Caribbean Sea on three sides and is flanked by high hills on the other,” Manek wrote. “Jet airplanes are not allowed to land at the airport due to its incredibly short runway.”

Nerve-racking… yet stunningly beautiful’
At 2,767m above sea level, Colorado’s Telluride Regional Airport is North America’s highest commercial airport. “[It’s] nerve-racking to experience, yet stunningly beautiful,” wrote Quora user Erin Whitlock.

Telluride Regional Airport, Colorado, USA (Credit: Credit: Robert Alexander/Getty)

Telluride’s ‘nerve-racking’ runway. (Credit: Robert Alexander/Getty)

Telluride’s single runway – which sits on a plateau in the Rocky Mountains, next to a heart-stopping, 300m drop to the San Miguel River below – used to be notorious for a giant dip in its centre. But renovations in 2009 made the airstrip safer and made it possible for larger aircraft to land. Today, the airport’sMountain Flying Safety guide advises pilots of single- or light-twin-engine aircraft not to attempt night landings, not to attempt flight if high-altitude winds exceed 30 knots, and not to fly if visibility is less than 15 miles.

A heart-stopping approach
So petrifying was the landing at the now-closed Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, passengers had a nickname for it: the Kai Tak Heart Attack.

Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong, Kai Tak Heart Attack (Credit: Credit: Frederic J Brown/Getty)

Hong Kong’s heart-stopping approach. (Credit: Frederic J Brown/Getty)

“The Kai Tak Airport no longer exists, but it was one of the wonders of the flying world when it was in operation [between 1925 and 1998],” wrote Quora user Jay Wacker. “It was on a little bit of reclaimed land in a harbour and there were high-rises on both sides. It was a relatively short runway for big planes, and it always felt harrowing when landing on a 747. When you looked out the window during take-off or landing, you felt like you could look into the living rooms of people.”

 Source……..www.bbc.com
Natarajan

At Gibraltar Airport its Runway Intersects With The Busiest Road in City !!!

There’s a road running straight through the runway in Gibraltar.

There’s a road running straight through the runway in Gibraltar. Source: Getty Images

SPACE is at a premium in tiny Gibraltar — so much so that the British territory’s only airport runway intersects with its busiest road. Cars travelling along Winston Churchill Avenue must stop for planes several times a day. For about 10 minutes, traffic stays at a standstill to allow a flight to depart for — or arrive from — London, Birmingham, or Manchester.

In 2007 the government released plans for a new four-lane road that would divert traffic through a tunnel under the runway, although cars would not be required to use it. The road, scheduled to open in 2009, has still not been completed.

Drivers in this country have to watch out for unusual traffic.

Drivers in this country have to watch out for unusual traffic. Source: Getty Images

The airport is, by necessity, small. The Spain-Gibraltar border lies just north of the runway. South of the runway, in the shadow of the Rock of Gibraltar, is North Front cemetery, the only graveyard in the territory where burials are still conducted.

Pedestrians and vehicles cross the airport while planes wait. Picture: Lancastrian.

Pedestrians and vehicles cross the airport while planes wait. Picture: Lancastrian. Source: Flickr

It’s an intersection on an airport. Picture: D-Stanley.

It’s an intersection on an airport. Picture: D-Stanley. Source: Flickr

Plane enthusiasts will love this road. Picture: Lancastrian

Plane enthusiasts will love this road. Picture: Lancastrian Source: Flickr 

SOURCE:::: news.com.au

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