The de Havilland Comet entered service in 1952 and the Boeing 707 in 1958, making fast, long-range jet travel routine and affordable for the mass market. Airports grew into enormous complexes of runways, terminals, road and rail links and freight zones, requiring large flat land buffers from the city. Around them clustered hotels, logistics parks and offices, forming 'airport cities' and aerotropolis districts. Aviation noise and land take became major planning constraints on metropolitan edges.
The jet airliner turned the airport into a primary node of metropolitan structure, shaping edge-city growth, logistics geography and global urban connectivity.