From Ushuaia in Argentina, the southernmost in the world, to Courchevel, in the middle of a ski resort in the French Alps, there are airports in the world that stand out for their unusual location, their extreme conditions or their unique characteristics. .
Below is a list of 10 airports in the world with impressive features.
1) Courchevel Airport, France
Courchevel Airport, a ski resort in the French Alps, is considered one of the most extreme airports in the world due to its location, its weather conditions and its ascending runway, only 500 meters long. It is used by small fixed-wing aircraft (such as Cessna planes) and helicopters, and the pilots who land here are runway specialists in such conditions.
2) Ushuaia Airport, Argentina
Ushuaia, in the province of Tierra del Fuego, is the southernmost city in the world. Its Malvinas Argentinas international airport coexists with snowy seasons and extreme temperatures that can complicate the conditions of the landing strips. In order for the pilots to land or take off normally, the Argentine firm that operates the airport, London Supply Group, must carry out large prevention operations with trucks and antifreeze, always in coordination with the forecasts of the National Meteorological Service.
3) Barra Airport, Scotland
Barra Airport is located in the wide bay of Traigh Mhor, Scotland, and stands out for being the only one in the world, with regular flights, located on a beach. Because of this particular location, pilots must find out about the tide schedules in order to
land properly. A curious fact is that, at high tide, the 3 runways are flooded and the planes cannot operate. Despite the complications, an average of 10,000 travelers pass through this airport each year.
4) Gibraltar Airport
Gibraltar International Airport has a particular curiosity: it is the only one in the world whose runway intersects with a road (Winston Churchill Avenue) at the same level, which makes it one of the most dangerous in the world. . This situation causes complications in traffic every time an aircraft leaves or lands at the airbase.
5) Airport of the Antarctic Peninsula
In this particular airport, planes land directly on the snow sheets of Antarctica. Pilots must pay close attention to the state of the snow, because if it is very soft or the ice seems fragile, it can be very dangerous.
6) Tenzing–Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal
In this small airport in eastern Nepal, take-off and landing maneuvers take place on a short runway of just 450 meters surrounded by mountains that begins on the edge of a cliff and ends with the presence of a wall In addition, it must be taken into
account that arrivals and departures are allowed only while sunlight and wind so provide. For these reasons, it is considered one of the most dangerous in the world. Curiously, it is the airport with the most passenger movement in the Asian country.
7) Gisborne Airport, New Zealand
Gisborne Airport is one of the few in the world to have a railway (the Palmerston North-Gilmore line) running across its main runway. For this reason, controllers have to take into account the railway schedules to authorize the arrivals and departures of planes. However, it is a neuralgic airport, since it receives a large number of passengers every year and connects several cities in New Zealand.
8) Matekane Aire Strip Airport, Lesotho
The runway at Matekane Aire Strip Airport is considered one of the most difficult in the world. It is barely 400 meters long and ends at the edge of a 600 meter deep cliff. The airport is used by charities and doctors to access the remote towns of Lesotho in Africa.
9) Sint Maarten Airport, Caribbean
The Princess Juliana International Airport, located in Sint Maarten (the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin), has the particularity of being right next to a beach very frequented by tourists. It is one of the few places in the world where you can see planes landing right below them, which is a dangerous experience.
10) Changi Airport, Singapore
Outside of the reckless conditions on the runways, Singapore International Airport, also known as Changi International Airport or simply Changi Airport, makes the list for having been named the best in the world in 2023 in the World Airport Awards. It has impressive facilities, first class services and even a 40 meter waterfall inside.