En los aeropuertos, el modelo de negocio parece haberse unificado y los operadores buscan un difícil equilibrio entre eficacia y espectáculo: agilidad en el proceso y efecto “wow”.
In contrast to the American model illustrated in the first instalment of this article (see here), in Europe the development of airports has been driven by the different states. It has always been almost a matter of national pride, image and prestige. All the efforts made by the aeronautical industry in the military career were subsequently focused on commercial aviation. In fact, even today, the countries that were the focus of this activity back then are still the main players in the European aviation industry: Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and France.
Veamos los casos más significativos que constituyeron el punto de partida de esta tipología en Europa: las aeroplazas de las grandes capitales europeas.
The first terminals on the old continent
The Croydon Airport, en Londres (Reino Unido), fue el principal aeropuerto del Reino Unido durante el período de entreguerras y su influencia en el desarrollo de la aviación civil, tal y como hoy la conocemos, está fuera de toda duda.
Operational as an airport since 1920, Croydon was the home base of Imperial Airways, the first British airline, the forerunner of the British Airlinessince its creation in 1924. Two years later, the British Parliament approved the first major redevelopment of the airfield, marking a very significant milestone in the development of airports and terminal areas in particular. For the first time, two new types of functional programme were designed and built: the passenger terminal of an airport and the air traffic control tower.
This is a huge step forward, as operations have never before been segregated between departures and arrivals, producing a highly efficient sequencing of all key processes in both operations. All this, of course, without prior reference of any kind.
Croydon The airport architecture was the starting point for everything that was to happen in the following years in a rushed manner in terms of airport architecture.
As with virtually all similar examples in these early years of evolution, the rapid technological advances in the aviation industry, which meant ever-larger aircraft, and the physical impossibility of expansion due to London's southward expansion, meant that Croydon The new building became obsolete and was finally closed in September 1959.
A pesar de ello, la primera terminal de pasajeros de la historia se conserva en perfecto estado y aún hoy en día se cuenta con la oportunidad de visitarla.
The Barajas airport, en Madrid (España), es un caso significativo de ausencia de visión a largo plazo. En 1929 se convocó un concurso de ideas que ganó el arquitecto Luis Gutiérrez Soto. Fruto de la convulsa situación política, así como de la posición tangencial que en ese momento ocupaba Madrid respecto de los aeropuertos mediterráneos (monopolizados por las líneas aeropostales francesas), no se supo ver las posibilidades futuras que la aviación comercial traería consigo.
Gutiérrez Soto proyectó una terminal de tamaño muy modesto, únicamente dirigida a las élites que se podían permitir volar. Concebido como “Aeroclub”, el edificio presentaba una estética naval, algo recurrente en los primeros edificios aeroportuarios. Sin embargo, pasados los dos grandes conflictos bélicos, cuando las circunstancias permitieron de nuevo la expansión de los vuelos civiles, el aeropuerto pronto quedó obsoleto y se demolió, dando paso a una nueva terminal en 1953.
The case of France is radically different. As early as 1914, the airport at Le Bourget, en París (Francia), funcionaba como aeródromo militar y en 1919, se inauguraron los primeros vuelos regulares entre París y Londres. Sufrió una primera ampliación 5 años más tarde y en 1927 fue allí donde tomó tierra Charles Lindbergh. The airport was a national icon, being the busiest air traffic hub in Europe. On the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1937, the government decided to call for tenders to expand the airport.
The result was an astonishing exercise in foresight, at the hands of the architect Georges Labro, quien planteó una estructura modular de bóvedas de hormigón, situada entre unos hangares existentes, y que se repetía a lo largo de la plataforma. La intención era muy clara: permitir el desarrollo de posteriores ampliaciones.
Del mismo modo, el proyecto tuvo un carácter visionario al separarse las dependencias de carga y equipajes de las de los pasajeros, proyectándose incluso un hotel en esta zona. Como muestra, el gran hall principal es un anticipo por sus dimensiones del concepto de gran contenedor multifuncional tan repetido en nuestros días.
The airport was in service until the late 1980s, when it was reconfigured as an air museum.
The Tempelhof airportin Berlin (Germany), is contemporary to the previous ones. In this case, mainly for political reasons, the approach is radically different, with a very significant leap in scale. In fact, Tempelhof stood as the largest building constructed in its time.
The airport owed its existence to an airfield for sports and air shows and in 1929 it already had a simple terminal, the work of the architects Paul y Klaus Enger. Apenas 4 años después, la llegada al poder del Partido Nacional Socialista supuso un cambio radical en el modo de entender la aviación, que pasó a considerarse como un arma perfecta de poder propagandístico. Aun siendo este el motivo principal de la toma de decisiones, no es menos cierto que su capacidad para anticipar el tamaño y la complejidad de los aeropuertos futuros fue más que evidente.
The building described below was calculated to serve 30 times the number of passengers it processed in the early 1930s. This is why it remained in operation until 70 years later with hardly any modifications.
Responsible for its design was Ernst Sagebiel, quien apenas unos meses antes, aún bajo la disciplina de Erich MendelsohnThe project for the building that housed the newly formed Air Ministry had been completed. Sagebiel designed a building for the airport on a monumental scale, with a functional programme that was surprising for the time, totally in line with what would be found in an airport many years later. It integrated spaces such as the check-in hall, with differentiated counters, security and customs controls in the arrivals and departures circuits. Boarding areas, and technical and administrative spaces. And it also presented a decisive novelty for future developments: baggage handling on the ground floor.
The main protagonist of the complex, however, was the an immense metal canopy 1,200 metres long (la actual T4 de Madrid tiene 1.400 metros de longitud) que, ya en el lado del aire, protegía a los pasajeros en el acceso a los aviones. Además, la cubierta podía albergar hasta 65.000 espectadores, como no, pensando en los multitudinarios actos de propaganda del mismísimo Führer.
The architectural language, very much in line with aesthetics Nazi, era una mezcla de clasicismo y racionalismo. En el “lado tierra” se creaba un inmenso atrio de acogida, rodeado de los volúmenes aplacados en piedra, con una rítmica composición de las ventanas y pilastras. En el lado aire, sin embargo, no hay concesiones a la estética: la enorme estructura metálica de la gran marquesina recuerda la era de la aviación.
In conclusion
A pesar de las diferencias iniciales entre los modelos americanos y europeos, en un mundo globalizado como el actual, the most successful airport developments are quickly replicated from airport to airport. De hecho, existen numerosos explotadores aeroportuarios que gestionan aeropuertos en ambos continentes. The business model seems to have become unified and operators are seeking a difficult balance between efficiency and entertainment.. Agility in the process and "wow" effect. This is supported by the increasingly common mixed investment models, the PPP (public-private partnership).
This public-private duality guarantees (or at least it should) that such an investment will be profitable and that it has a viable financial model. But, at the same time, it is also a guarantee that a terminal is not being designed as if it were an "IKEA", where the only important thing is the passengers' journey through a commercial space whose entrance ticket, in this case, is our own boarding pass.
