Cities reflected in their airports

The Straits Times, March 6, 2007
By Tyler Brule


A NEW YARDSTICK FOR QUALITY OF LIVING
Cities reflected in their airports

IN THE months to come, a select group of relocation agents, recruiting firms and real estate brands will start issuing their annual 'quality of life' and 'best places to live' surveys. The reading is never terribly surprising or exciting: Zurich usually ranks first, Vancouver might be up or down a point or two, Geneva will likely make top five and if Melbourne's lucky it might squeeze its way into the top 10.

Recently, I did a three-city tour in 48 hours (Tokyo, New York and London) and came up with a new and far less complicated formula for judging a city's liveability, attractiveness and general quality of life. Where traditional indexes look at education costs, the price of a business meal for two, rental rates for a house in a leafy suburb, the price of cabs and public transport and the cost of filling a grocery cart, my new formula requires only that an inspector (in this case, me) fly into and out of a city's major airport. Chances are, if a city can get its aviation hub right, then everything else falls into place.

Singapore's first prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, has been thinking along these lines for decades and has used Changi Airport as global shorthand for his city-state's brisk, if slightly dull, efficiency.

Last month, he announced his ambition to push his country to the top of international league tables by focusing on the softer sides of urban life and planning - during his Chinese New Year speech he managed to mention the importance of alfresco dining three times.

He also made clear his intention to turn Singapore into a serious tropical player to rival London or New York.

Singapore's hub is a perfect barometer of how the AQOLI (airport quality of life index) works. Using a series of basic measures found in or around an airport, all is revealed about the city/country in question.

Starting with Tokyo's Narita International Airport, there's no holding over Chiba prefecture before the approach and on landing the door whooshes open the moment the aircraft comes to a halt. If you're lucky enough to arrive at the new south wing of Terminal 1, then first impressions are outstanding - spotless, orderly and silent.

The only drawback is that Narita, like most of Japan in winter, is overheated and could do with lowering the thermostat by a good 7 deg C. At immigration, the procedure is fast and efficient and bags are on the carousel by the time you roll up with your trolley.

On the navigation side, the airport is well marked for both arriving and departing passengers, so long as you read Japanese or English. The mass transit possibilities are among the best in the world and the taxis, while not cheap, do have the added bonus of lacy seat covers and trunks filled with rubber boots, buckets and feather dusters.

For departing passengers, security is a dream, with small battalions manning every X-ray machine. On the dining and shopping front, no other airport comes close for choice and quality of offers.

All in all, Narita is a good reflection of Tokyo - clean, functional, well organised, full of choice and overstaffed, though at an airport this is never a bad thing.

Eleven hours and 20 minutes later, JFK International Airport looms into sight as the ANA 777 lines up for final approach. While there's been no holding over upstate New York, the door takes an awfully long time to swing open.

Inside the British Airways-operated terminal, the corridors are a little dank and draughty and nothing suggests that the terminal was, in fact, designed.

At passport control, staff bark over loudspeakers warning passengers not to use mobile phones, and up at the counter my Kazakhstan visa and the number of Japan stamps in my British passport raise some alarm. As security staff have been turned into navigation assistants, signage in the terminal is clearly lacking.

On the catering front there's a sandwich shop and a poorly stocked news-stand. Overall, there's a feeling that no one is going to stretch beyond his or her core job description to help anyone else, particularly at the security check, which in practice is a form of punishment for Americans who dare to go overseas and a perverse send-off leaving foreigners wondering whether they should come back.

According to the AQOLI metrics, JFK speaks volumes about the quality of life in New York - frayed at the edges, more than a little paranoid, not great value for money, a little arrogant and over-unionised.

Chirpy pilot chat should always be interpreted with caution, particularly when Heathrow's concerned. 'It's a pretty good morning in London today, low clouds with light showers and we should have you on stand on schedule at 8.10am,' we were told by the captain. Twenty minutes later, we were informed that we would have to hold for 30 minutes, and when we did finally turn off the taxiway, we were told there was no one to turn on the navigation system and there were no stairs for the aircraft.

Loaded onto a crowded bus, we were ushered into Terminal 4 and guided toward arrivals by a series of makeshift signs that look as if BAA, the airport's operator, commissioned them from a local Sunday school. While the immigration team was friendly enough, the luggage took 45 minutes to show up on a carousel surrounded by more dust bunnies and bits of rubbish than passengers.

Customs is a pretty lax affair, just like the maintenance of the toilets. In the arrivals hall, the food being offered is Starbucks. Again, Heathrow is a perfect reflection of London - poorly managed, lacking investment in infrastructure (despite delirious amounts of cash washing in), understaffed, rotting.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew wants to see his city-state usurp the world's major international centres and bring about an inversion of top city rankings.

He might have a fight on his hands with Tokyo, but London and New York are in need of some serious attention, particularly if their airports are a yardstick.

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE



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BAROMETER OF SINGAPORE

Singapore's hub is a perfect barometer of how the AQOLI (airport quality of life index) works. Using a series of basic measures found in or around an airport, all is revealed about the city/country in question.