The offsite Logan remote air terminal – a benchmark for the future in the US and elsewhere?

For a variety of reasons, there are still few genuine full scale off-airport terminals where passengers can check-in and be transported directly to the gate, by bus.

A couple of potential ones have been proposed in the past, including one in London, UK, that would have seen another airfield close to Heathrow Airport being used both as a third runway for that airport, and another terminal building.

In the USA it is possible now that they could become a regular feature. Congress has authorised such terminals for up to eight airports (there are often such limitations there, as there initially were for the number of airports permitted to be privatised), and Boston Logan Airport is being used as a test bed.

The facility is based in a populated area where there are already bus connections.

But some questions remain as to their efficacy.

Meanwhile the driving force behind them is the Transport Security Administration which covets less congestion in airports, and which is seeking public-private partnerships to enact security at some airports.