China has built more than 30 airports since 1999. Meanwhile, the creation of ''wayports,'' or new hubs, in remote parts of Norway and Siberia has siphoned off a large amount of connecting traffic. More than 30 percent of the people milling around Heathrow, for example, were simply trying to get somewhere else. Supersonic travel has become space age with Orbitol, a 50-passenger space plane that travels in low earth orbit, enabling it to fly from London to Sydney in 45 minutes. Unlike the space shuttles, Orbitol takes off and lands under its own power.
Regional airlines serve ''thinner routes,'' enabling business travelers to avoid mega-hubs.
Mega-hubs, with a larger daily population than many major cities, are no longer a means to an end but an end in themselves, destinations in their own right. They form a worldwide network of alternative cities with their own business communities and civic amenities, hotels and conference centers. Many people don't travel to cities any more, but to airports. The No. 1 rule for business travelers is wherever you are, always be on the phone to somewhere else. John rationalizes that this is a working vacation - a chance to bring Jane along.