Given that today's airplanes need several km runway to take off and to land, and that people often need to transfer from one plane to another, we are probably not going to have many more airports per city than we already have in a foreseeable future.
But if an airport terminal could just be a series of small waiting rooms, one for each plane, sort of like today's gates but where where you met up directly at the gate with your luggage 30 min before. Then everything from passports to tickets, to body scan and luggage, was checked once, just once, and then you boarded the plane through at least two jet bridges (front and back on a normal plane). End of story. Those who wanted could show up an hour before, and they would get a small rebate and not have to wait in line, and those who wanted could show up 30 min before, and they would pay a little more and wait in line. And the plane should not wait for anyone who's not there 30 min before takeoff.
Could you board a standard narrowbody plane with 150-200 passengers in 30 minutes (if none of them opted for early boarding)? Two jet bridges, each with at least 2 security lines with scans/pad downs of passengers, a couple of luggage dumps with scans of luggage (I imagine it could largely be done automatically). A normal narrowbody plane with 150-200 seats means each line should handle 75-100 passengers in 30 minutes. That's around 3 passengers per minute or 20 sec per passenger. Should be possible. But I think many would opt to meet up shortly before and save a bit of money.
Same in the other end. You would pick up luggage directly at the plane, and have your passport checked immediately as you enter the terminal.
Much of the waiting in airports is because airports want passengers to mix up in the shopping mall before check-in and takeoff.
There are airports which have something like this, but generally it's very expensive to maintain so many separate security checkpoints.
In the US, the Kansas City airport was originally designed and built before any type of security checkpoints were present in airports, as a series of horseshoe-shaped terminals. Now, each terminal is internally divided into groups of a few departure gates each, and each one has its own security checkpoint. This is extremely convenient for people coming to the airport -- when I lived there, I could arrive 45 minutes prior to my flight, knowing I would get through security and be at the gate by 30 minutes before departure (which is when boarding begins). On the other hand, there are very few amenities beyond the checkpoints; toilets had to be installed, and there are a few counters selling food, but only one area that I know of has a real restaurant available inside.
And it will almost certainly be torn down and completely rebuilt with a centralized single security checkpoint, because operating it in the current setup is too expensive.
But if an airport terminal could just be a series of small waiting rooms, one for each plane, sort of like today's gates but where where you met up directly at the gate with your luggage 30 min before. Then everything from passports to tickets, to body scan and luggage, was checked once, just once, and then you boarded the plane through at least two jet bridges (front and back on a normal plane). End of story. Those who wanted could show up an hour before, and they would get a small rebate and not have to wait in line, and those who wanted could show up 30 min before, and they would pay a little more and wait in line. And the plane should not wait for anyone who's not there 30 min before takeoff.
Could you board a standard narrowbody plane with 150-200 passengers in 30 minutes (if none of them opted for early boarding)? Two jet bridges, each with at least 2 security lines with scans/pad downs of passengers, a couple of luggage dumps with scans of luggage (I imagine it could largely be done automatically). A normal narrowbody plane with 150-200 seats means each line should handle 75-100 passengers in 30 minutes. That's around 3 passengers per minute or 20 sec per passenger. Should be possible. But I think many would opt to meet up shortly before and save a bit of money.
Same in the other end. You would pick up luggage directly at the plane, and have your passport checked immediately as you enter the terminal.
Much of the waiting in airports is because airports want passengers to mix up in the shopping mall before check-in and takeoff.