DETROIT, 5 June — The $1.2 billion Detroit Metro Airport’s new World Gateway terminal for Northwest Airlines and KLM features several state-of-the-art facilities. The terminal is the largest and most important hub in the North American network of Northwest and KLM and is capable of handling 30 million passengers annually.
The new terminal, officially known as the Edward McNamara Terminal, makes Metro the Cadillac of American airports. Northwest which handles some 80 percent of Detroit passengers is the only airline with a hub there. A group of journalists from the Gulf states, India and Europe were recently flown to Detroit by KLM and Northwest. The objective of the visit was to highlight the range of facilities which, from a regional perspective, should be of interest since Arab immigrants make up an estimated 200,000 of Detroit’s population of one million.
The terminal has 106 ticketing counters, 97 gates, three concourses which serve 72 aircraft simultaneously. There is also a luggage handling system with 11 domestic and seven international carousels. We saw two high-speed indoor trams, each with a capacity of 200 passengers, shuttling the length of Concourse A. In addition, there are over 90 self-service outlets with e-ticket facilities. There are four parallel jet runways, eight kilometers of luggage conveyor belts, four Northwest Airlines’ World Clubs for executive travelers’, a 414-room hotel due to open in November, 2.4 kilometers of moving walkways, 9,000 seats for passengers, 475 public restroom stalls, more than 80 shops and restaurants and 21 security checkpoints.
In addition to improving everything, both KLM and Northwest are making significant investments in their fleets. There has been a major upgrade in Business Class, with leg-room increased by more than half. Seats can also be reclined into a sleeping position. Defibrillators and first-aid facilities will be available on board the aircraft for the benefit of heart patients.
