[You Need a Thneed]

Crews work around the clock to bring Calgary Airport 'into the future'

Travellers won't get their first look inside the new terminal at Calgary International Airport for another two years, but the building that will eventually handle tens of thousands of passengers each day is already a busy place.

Inside the incomplete structure, so massive it could house five Boeing 737s, 1,200 workers a day labour in preparation for an October 2015 opening date.

In some places they're still erecting steelwork, in others they're already installing the

radiant heating and laying the granite floors.

"It's such a large project we've divided it up into eight work areas," says Bob Schmitt, senior vice-president of planning and engineering with the Calgary Airport Authority. "Right now, the biggest challenge is just the sheer magnitude of the job."

The current expansion project - which also includes the construction of a new $600-million, 14,000-foot runway - is the largest in the history of the Calgary airport. When complete, the expansion will have doubled the amount of terminal space at the airport, created 22 new aircraft gates, and given Calgary the longest runway in Canada, capable of landing the largest aircraft in the world with fewer payload restrictions.