These buses/lounges were supposed to revolutionize airports, now they are a very expensive option
When I flew into Washington Dulles, the international airport of the U.S. capital, in recent days, I went up for the [...]
IAD
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When I flew to Washington Dulles in recent days., the international airport of the capital of the United States, I first boarded the buses/lounge and so I got curious and tried to learn more about it.
The invention that was supposed to revolutionize airports
The lounge bus was invented by Eero Saarinen: if that name doesn't ring a bell, it means you've never flown TWA from New York if you're younger you have never visited the TWA hotel. The naturalized American engineer, but of Finnish descent, was the creator of the spectacular terminal at JFK for Trans World Airline and has designed many other things in American airports and beyond.
In the mid-1950s, airplanes were not comparable to what they are today. The 747 was not even in Boeing's dreams yet, and the revolution was called the 707.
When Saarinen designed Dulles Airport he brought his entire vision of the future of aviation into that design. One of the inventions was precisely the lounge on wheels. They entered service at Washington Dulles (IAD) in 1962., unlike the buses that we all know and hate when we have to disembark from the plane, these vehicles can be lifted and attached to a plane like a finger.
This means that passengers embark/disembark without having to put a foot on the runway, a great thing to avoid the weather or suffering the heat while waiting for the line on the ladder to clear.
These vehicles are 16.46 meters long, nearly 5 meters wide can carry more than 100 passengers and travel at 42km/h. They have also been in service at other airports in the past, but Today they are a Dulles "exclusive."
A $16 million makeover
Contrary to what you might think, it is not yet time for these buses to retire, quite the contrary. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority will spend $16 million to renovate two of these vehicles: this is not a mere stucco and paint operation, they will be disassembled and re-engineered from scratch. It will take 3 years of work before we see them on the track again.
If the experiment is a success the same operation will be done to the remaining 47 machines over the next six years, a total investment of 160 million euros.
The reason is simple: the airport wants to continue using this iconic system, but no one makes these machines anymore, let alone spare parts are available on the market. So the only way is to disassemble them piece by piece and rebuild them from scratch in a modern key and thus ensure another 20 years of life for these unique machines.
In conclusion
Of course, it would be nice if the airport buses were all like the ones Emirates uses for its first-class passengers, but the everyday reality is significantly different. The investment may seem large, but creating an alternative to these lounges on wheels would cost much more. Both to the airport in terms of developing the infrastructure, and to the companies in terms of handling compared to just the driver who now drives the lounge, lifts it up to the door, and seats passengers on board.
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