The World's Largest Airport Terminal

Over the weekend, for my flight to Shanghai for the Harvard Global Series Conference, I flew in and out of the new terminal (Terminal 3) at Beijing Capital Airport for the first time. The terminal, the world’s largest airport building, was designed by Sir Norman Foster and built in less than 4 years to open in time for the Olympics. The building is massive – a soaring steel and glass structure covered by thousands of twinkling lights on the inside. It is hard not to be impressed by the sheer size of this super modern building. However, I’ve been spoiled by the efficiency of Chinese airports over the past 9 months. It rarely takes me more than 15 minutes to get through security (there is never more than 5 or so people in front of you) and get to my gate. Now, there are miles of stairs and walkway to conquer between any 2 points. Sometimes, bigger is just not better.

Nevertheless, Capital Airport needs the extra capacity the additional terminal offers. But sadly, rather than making the transport buses to and from the plane a thing of the past (they take forever since the plane parks in the middle of nowhere miles from the terminal), they still have those. But luckily, my flight back to Beijing pulled right into a gate.