The airport as a structure of pure mobility : a sociological perspective

Abstract

Flying in an aeroplane was once a special event that afforded either by the lucky few or the misfortune of the airmen caught up in war. During the early days of commercial aviation, passengers dressed up for trips in hats and suits. Those times only the affluent could afford seats on an aeroplane. Nowadays, travelling has become part of the people's life as the need to travel to other countries has increased for several purposes. Since the 1970s the frequent use of air travel for business and personal use such as tourism has turned flying into a common experience for many people around the globe. Today most of the countries have created infrastructures to accommodate air traffic. Air travel is becoming a necessity for us, despite the risks associated with this type of travel, we are spending more time high up in the skies. We have populated the atmosphere above our world with a swelling density. Our complex and multidimensional contemporary life is increasingly knit together by plane trips. The airspace has turned into a space of flows inhabited temporarily by single individuals but on aggregate scale by a mass of humanity.