ABSTRACT
Conceptualising global cities as spaces of aviation flows and mobilities prods researchers to turn their gaze towards how this connectivity is produced and maintained through critical enabling infrastructure, in this case airports. Mike Crang notes that mobility is produced through specific places, especially gateway spaces thresholds for people coming and going. International airport terminals have become what some call points of entry into a world of apparent hyper mobility, time-space compression and distanciation'. Connectivity in the aviation domain is also highly-prized: A big international airport with numerous airlines and many destinations is a sure sign of global status. Airports, particularly the serving leading global cities like London and New York, have become indispensable critical infrastructure facilitating aviation flows: from tourists; cargo goods and materials; migrants to businessmen. Manuel Castells, whose idea of cities as spaces of flows is central to the analytical framework, particularly sees the airport as a space where people and things flow: where mobility is most active.
