Flights of fancy: The world's best airport architecture

Flying used to be romantic – if slightly threadbare. This airstrip scene from the 1942 film Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, captures some of the mystique of early passenger flights Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

These days, however, we have airport superstructures, such as in this CGI impression of Heathrow's new Terminal 2 building, designed by Norman Foster Photograph: BAA/PA Wire

Lauded as 'elegant' and 'swooping', Heathrow's new terminal building is scheduled for completion in 2019 Photograph: BAA/PA Wire

Further east, in Essex, Stansted airport boasts a hi-tech parasol roof and views of the airstrips Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features

Even an airfield as small as Farnborough in Hampshire has swapped its lo-fi, 20th-century design for more contemporary architecture Photograph: Anthony Weller/View Pictures/Rex Features

Almost two miles long, Beijing's Terminal 3 – designed by Norman Foster – is an unmissable symbol of China's rise to global power. Here, guards stand to attention inside its vast, impressive space Photograph: David Gray/Reuters

Pilgrims on their way to Mecca arrive at the Hajj terminal in King Abdulaziz international airport, Jeddah Photograph: AFP/Getty

Built in 1962, Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal at New York's John Kennedy international airport was hailed as an architectural masterpiece – but all too quickly became too small, unsuitable for mass air travel Photograph: Angelo Hornak/Corbis

A cavernous, sparkling ceiling looms above the concourse in Kuala Lumpur's $3.5bn international airport Photograph: David Loh/Reuters

The new terminal at Madrid Barajas airport was designed by Richard Rogers and won the 2006 RIBA Stirling prize for architecture Photograph: Allan Baxter/Photographer's Choice

The new terminal at Oslo's Gardermoen airport, Norway. According to Jonathan Glancey, it's all 'soft light, timber and immaculate lavatories' Photograph: Frits Solvang/DK Images/Rex Features