page_title: Airport
section_title: Facilities
hierarchical_section_title: Airport / Facilities
caption_attribution_description: Helsinki in 2018
context_page_description: An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports often have facilities to store and maintain aircraft, and a control tower. An airport consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface such as a runway for a plane to take off or a helipad, and often includes adjacent utility buildings such as control towers, hangars and terminals. Larger airports may have airport aprons, taxiway bridges, air traffic control centres, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, and emergency services. In some countries, the US in particular, airports also typically have one or more fixed-base operators, serving general aviation.
  An airport solely serving helicopters is called a heliport. An airport for use by seaplanes and amphibious aircraft is called a seaplane base. Such a base typically includes a stretch of open water for takeoffs and landings, and seaplane docks for tying-up.
  An international airport has additional facilities for customs and passport control as well as incorporating all the aforementioned elements.
context_section_description: A terminal is a building with passenger facilities. Small airports have one terminal. Large ones often have multiple terminals, though some large airports like Amsterdam Airport Schiphol still have one terminal. The terminal has a series of gates, which provide passengers with access to the plane.
  The following facilities are essential for departing passengers:
  Check-in facilities, including a baggage drop-off
  Security clearance gates
  Passport control (for some international flights)
  Gates
  Waiting areas
  The following facilities are essential for arriving passengers:
  Passport control (international arrivals only)
  Baggage reclaim facilities, often in the form of a carousel
  Customs (international arrivals only)
  A landside meeting place
  For both sets of passengers, there must be a link between the passenger facilities and the aircraft, such as jet bridges or airstairs. There also needs to be a baggage handling system, to transport baggage from the baggage drop-off to departing planes, and from arriving planes to the baggage reclaim.
  The area where the aircraft park to load passengers and baggage is known as an apron or ramp (or incorrectly, "the tarmac").
  Airports with international flights have customs and immigration facilities. However, as some countries have agreements that allow travel between them without customs and immigrations, such facilities are not a definitive need for an international airport. International flights often require a higher level of physical security, although in recent years, many countries have adopted the same level of security for international and domestic travel.
  "Floating airports" are being designed which could be located out at sea and which would use designs such as pneumatic stabilized platform technology.
caption: Helsinki–Vantaa Airport's security clearance gates
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