Section outline

  • An airport is a place where airplanes take off and land. Passengers get on and off planes, cargo and other goods are loaded and unloaded at airports. Air travel has become the main type of transportation over long distances, and modern airplanes belong to the safest means of travel. 

    Every day, millions of people fly on thousands of planes all over the world. Currently , there are over 40,000 airports around the world. The largest of them are like small cities. They have hotels, restaurants, banks, post offices and other shops, as well as their own police force or fire department . Thousands of people work at an airport every day.

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    Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London
    Image : Citizen59, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons


    Words

    • cargo = goods that are transported on a ship or plane
    • currently = at the moment, right now
    • fire department = the organization that works to stop and put out fires
    • load = to put goods on a ship or plane
    • means of travel = way of travelling
    • police force = the police organization in a city or town
    • unload = to take something off a ship or plane