No, it's not just you and yes, on quite a few days, air travel has truly become something of a hassle. As more and more options for affordable air travel become available, the skies have become more crowded and so have the airports. These factors contribute to an ever-growing number of flight delays and other discomfort. Fortunately, there are services out there that will take care of you if you intend to file a claim or want to ask for a refund when you encounter such nuisances. Platforms like Flightright help with flight delay compensation process. With a few clicks this can sometimes make up at least a little for lost vacation time.
However, the surge in air traffic also leads to some positive developments and in particular to new airport projects springing up around the globe. Let's be frank, renovations and upgrades had been overdue in many places and have only become more obvious with the latest growth in air travel. Who doesn't prefer a landing at Singapore Changi airport with its indoor butterfly garden over a touchdown at New York's La Guardia which former American Vice President Biden once likened to a third-world country?
Speaking of La Guardia, here is some good news. This place will not only get a renovation to cover the worst spots up but has instead become America's largest infrastructure project and will get entirely new concourses and terminals. These works have been in progress while current operations continue and by 2020, La Guardia should be a better place, generally speaking.
Apart from this important upgrade, frequent fliers can expect a few more new developments around the world. These should be able to take some of the pressure off the crowded skies at least in some areas. But for air traffic aficionados, some of these new airports may even become a destination for themselves. Dubai for example hasn't been shy in vesting its Al Maktoum airport in a luxurious dress before and nothing less can be expected of the major expansion that is currently going on there. In any case, the development should upgrade the airport which has rapidly become a major hub and transfer point between Europe and Asia. On the opposite side of the globe, the Los Angeles airport has also become notorious for being too crowded, too hectic and generally too small in the past and has thus embarked on a journey that will add a satellite terminal, new taxiways and a new concourse. However, don't expect that entire project to be finished sooner than 2023.
The Chinese will be faster. The new Beijing Daxing Airport, planned and built to relieve the capital's international airport which is operating near capacity, opens the first facilities in 2019 and will continue to grow until being entirely operative by 2025. Once completed, Daxing is set to handle no less than 72 million passengers per year. But China's eagerness in terms of becoming a major air traffic player doesn't stop there. Five more airports across the country have been built from scratch in recent years. And in Europe, the urgently needed new Berlin airport, which had been expected to go live in 2012 and has since become the most delayed airport project in history, finally nears completion. That one however will probably already been too small once it finally opens in 2020 - or 2021.
