Originally Posted by
FRatSTN
I believe this would be entirely within the new 3-bay extension to the rear of the building.
Regarding Satellites I have largely the same observations, see my previous post above.
The other point as well is whether anything will happen within the existing IDL layout, particularly duty free and the yellow brick road of retail that follows. Both are congested now and surely more space will be needed here before reaching the extended area after it.
It's certainly looking that keeping security where it used to be many years ago in the central area of the Terminal may have worked out better in the long run. In that case, shoreline check-in could be extended even further, make way for a bigger landside arrival area and check-in would flow seamlessly into security and into departures, much like the T2 or T5 design at LHR. Might've been a good time to do that with the new security technology coming in if things got into action sooner.
I agree with you. I still think it was a mistake for MAG to relocate security from its previous central location to its current position towards the west end of the terminal and in my opinion should have been left where it was. At the time (2013), MAG stated that the main reason for the relocation was to increase the size of the departure lounge by using space freed up by the old security area and shifting the landslide-airside boundary. To relocate security back to where it was previously would eat into space currently occupied by the walk through duty free and retail and essentially require a complete remodelling of the departure lounge back to something similar to what existed when BAA owned STN- on top of the proposed terminal extension. Personally, I feel that this is highly unlikely, as MAG seem happy to force passengers through the walkthrough duty free and endless retail outlets. But based on what the video currently shows, it'll be interesting to see how the IDL changes following the extension. You're absolutely right in that congestion has become an issue since the terminal was reconfigured, and I don't know how MAG plan on addressing this, particularly around the walkthrough duty free and yellow brick road retail passenger route.
I also agree that congestion in the (relatively small and tucked away) international arrivals area is a big problem currently, and will only get worse. I'm amazed that this is seemingly not being addressed in the project, because what is currently happening is that the area can no longer cope with current passenger volumes, and a lot of this spills over into the check in area, which in turn creates more congestion there as well.
Although I do see the benefit in the existing TTS going, I do think this will undoubtably create new problems in the form of longer walking times to/from the satellites, particularly satellite 1. I'm sure MAG plan on installing travelators to help speed things up a bit, but I wonder if it would have been better to install a new transit system (similar to what LHR terminal 5 has) rather than new skylinks? If and when satellite 4 gets built, having access via a TTS perhaps would have been better rather than building another bridge to it.
In terms of the existing satellites, it is a shame that there is seemingly nothing being done, especially with new, larger aircraft coming into STN in the future. They are already under strain, and undoubtably this will just get worse when Jet2 and FR start sending in larger 737-MAX10s and A321-NEOs. It is also difficult to see how and where MAG want to accommodate further long haul given current gate space limitations. I also wonder what will happen with existing spaces that will seemingly be going (e.g. gates 81-88 and spaces where the TTS currently stops at gates 1-29).