Metro International Airport



"Man, they really trashed this airport."

- Louis "I wonder if this is more lost luggage than normal?"

- Zoey

Metro International Airport is a two-story (6.6 m) airport located in the city of Newburg. The address of this airport is 1000 Airport Way (as seen on the CEDA posters in Blood Harvest). It is the main objective of the Survivors in the Dead Air campaign in Left 4 Dead.

History
Before the Infection, the airport was one of the many ways out of Newburg. Though the airport is relatively small and can only handle a hand full of airplanes and flights, it helps provide access to the outside world and allows for Newburg businesses to thrive and expand. There are 2 major airline companies that operate at Metro International Airport: Vector Airlines and Pangea Air.

Main Terminal Building Floor Directory:
 * Ground Floor
 * Ground Transportation
 * Baggage Claim
 * Information Booth
 * Ticketing
 * Currency Exchange
 * Arrivals Area
 * TSA Security Checkpoint
 * Duty Free Shopping
 * Burger Tank
 * Restrooms
 * Second Floor
 * Skybridge
 * Sandleford Conference Center
 * Baggage Processing
 * Terminal Gate B
 * Restrooms
 * Bar/Restaurant
 * Coat Check
 * Smoking Area

Current Status
Metro International Airport is a bomb-shattered ruin overrun with Infected. Although its core infrastructure is destroyed, its main runway system remains intact and can still accept flights from STOL aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules.

It is speculated that, as the Infection started to spread throughout the Newburg city region, Metro International Airport was designated a key point by CEDA as both an evacuation center and as a supply hub for infection control resources. Within a short space of time however all of these plans were overtaken by events and the sheer scale of the infection crisis. CEDA was forced to place the airport under quarantine and re-designate it as a supply center only, but this format was quickly swept away when quarantine measures failed and the facility became overrun with Infected from the ground, whilst, from the skies above, infected commercial pilots desperately diverted to Metro International in the futile hope of making safe landings and finding sanctuary.

As events picked up pace, CEDA was relieved of its responsibilities, and authority was passed to the military, who decided that Metro International served no further useful purpose, and that, in default of any better plan, it should be bombed to destruction in the hope of killing off multiple Infected, and limiting the spread of disease.

The military's obsession with "using a bigger hammer" and resorting to aerial bombing is first encountered at Metro International but reaches its full flowering in Left 4 Dead 2 (refer The Parish campaign). This a classic example of the "Scorched Earth" policy and is symbolic of authority that has no better strategy other than to deny invaders key resources and demonstrate that it is "doing something" whilst buying time until something more effective is formulated.

Note that for public relations purposes, the military could claim that bombing Metro International was a way to prevent individuals who may be infected or carriers from attempting to escape by commandeering aircraft and thus enhancing the risk of spreading the infection. In this regard, it is possible to speculate that The Survivor's C-130 was lost because it was picked up on radar as having departed from Metro International and subsequently intercepted and shot down by the military. If true, this lends further credence to The Survivor's increasingly jaundiced view of the military authorities.