The new terminal of Amman airport (basically a new airport) is now operational. First impressions: It feels spacious and bright, but not burn-out-your-eyesockets bright. There are almost no seating areas anywhere landside, so the new QAIA is definitely no longer suitable for airport-sleeping. Another thing that has apparently not survived the move is the post office.
The tedious x-raying of checked baggage is gone, you can waltz right in to the check-in counters after a short document check. I wonder how that will play out. In the past, lots and lots of passengers were sent for a manual check of their baggage after the x-ray. Either the Jordanians have finally realized that „unusual“ baggage does not equate „dangerous“ or „suspect“. Or we are going to see lots of bags checked away from public view and possibly denied loading... There is one security check of cabin baggage after passport control, before the duty-free and restaurant area. No additional checks at the gates. There is an excess of restaurants, bars and cafes. A smoothie bar has mouthwatering offers, but London or New York City prices. Starbucks already there, McDonalds coming. The cheapest snack bar seems to be a Popeyes outlet, but even its prices look „adjusted“. Plenty of benches at the gate areas, but all with armrests, so again: no sleep. Free WiFi and apparently now a much more reliable connection than in the old terminals.
Much of the airport still looks like a construction site and I suspect many thinks do not work well yet. Upon arrival one hour passed between landing and opening of aircraft doors. Teething problems with the finger docks maybe? Also, baggage claim seems slower than it used to be. Perhaps that too will improve over time. No more x-raying of everybody's baggage at customs, only spot checks of random passengers. The arrivals hall has a rather large convenience store whose prices are a bit lower than at the various snack bars. The huge plaza outside the arrivals hall reminds me of Bangkok. The airport bus (look for yellow vehicles) stops right in the centre of the affair, thankfully making it more difficult for the taxi mafia to claim that there is „no bus“.
