Towards a Psychogeography of the Long-Haul Flight: P1

Air travel tends to be regarded in terms of time rather than space. Conversations form over the lenght of a flight and the hours lost or gained during international travel. On an personal level the individual traveller often views the journey as time spent in the departure lounge, in the security queue and waiting for connecting flights. Yet, with this emphasis on time, the unique space of air travel is left neglected. The airplane cabin is unique and unto itself - a contained environment cruising at 35,000 ft. It is neither here nor there, somewhere between arrival and departure. The airport terminal is also a unique space, as a heightened transport hub. It is where security and commerce work hand in hand, intertwining to the extent that it is difficult to separate them from one another. As such, it is ripe for investigation. A psychogeography of the long-haul flight will therefore focus on space rather than time.