From airports, they usually don’t expect anything special. If you are lucky, you can find a decent cafe or restaurant where you can kill time before departure. Or maybe all you need is a decent infrastructure, such as a shuttle that will take you between the terminals.
However, some airports may offer their passengers something more than good service or delicious food. Introducing you top 10 most unusual airports in the world. Perhaps you have already been to one of them or someday will visit.
10. Princess Julianne Airport
The airport on the island of St. Martin is among the ten most dangerous in the world. The thing is that the only lane is not equipped with beacons for automatic landing and pilots have to manually land the plane. All this is complicated by the fact that a short GDP starts right on the beach and planes fly literally over the heads of vacationers.
9. Barra Airport, Scotland
The sandy beach is one of the last places you expect to see a plane land, but this is exactly what happens on the tiny Scottish island of Barra. Such an unusual and even dangerous airport has been operating since the 1930s and serves about 10,000 passengers a year.
Pilots have to pay attention to the tides, because water can flood the runway.
8. Kansai International Airport, Japan
At first glance, Kansai may seem like any other airport in the world, but in fact it is located on an artificial island off the coast of Honshu. Here the roar from take-off and landing aircraft does not interfere with the locals. And fishermen who opposed the construction received generous compensation.
The island, 400 meters long and 1000 meters wide, the construction of which required 10,000 workers and 80 ships that worked for three years, is connected to the mainland via a three-kilometer bridge.
In 2001, the American Society of Civil Engineers named Kansai Airport a Millennium Monument in Civil Engineering. But here's a cherry on your cake: the airport is falling under water at an alarming rate, and its drawdown is 8 centimeters higher than what the designers planned.
Kansai is not the first Japanese airport located on an artificial island. Such is also the Chubu International Airport, one of the ten best airports in the world according to Skytrax.
7. Gibraltar Airport, UK
On the tiny British territory of Gibraltar, on the southern coast of Spain, there is a fairly standard airport, with the exception of one important detail: its runway runs right along Winston Churchill Avenue. This is the island’s busiest road.
Every time an airliner lands or takes off, a railway gate holds cars until it becomes safe. Aircraft usually delay the movement of cars for about ten minutes, but on some days the delay can be up to two hours.
6. Denver International Airport, USA
The list of oddities at this airport starts right from the entrance, where guests are greeted by the Blucifer - a 10-meter statue depicting a blue mustang with glowing red eyes. This project of the sculptor Jimenez killed his creator, and not in a figurative sense, but in the most direct. When the sculptor worked on the Bluzifer, part of the four-ton colossus collapsed on his leg, damaged the artery and Jimenez died. However, the sculpture was still completed and installed as a decoration of the airport.
Inside the building you will find an impressive collection of bizarre works of art related to a number of apocalyptic and alien conspiracies.
However, the oddities of Denver Airport do not end there. It is assumed that underneath is an extensive network of underground tunnels and bunkers that are intended for the US government - as a shelter in the event of a global crisis.
5. Gisborne Airport, New Zealand
Do you think that cars crossing the runway of the Gibraltar airport are at a high risk? The amazing Gisborne Airport takes the concept of transport nightmare to a new level. After all, his runway crosses the existing railway.
And all departures and arrivals of aircraft must be coordinated with the train schedule in order to avoid accidents.
4. Savannah / Hilton Head International Airport, USA
Built primarily on Georgia’s farmland, the airport in the 80s of the twentieth century faced a small problem when expanding one of the runways. Directly on the path of the aircraft was a small family cemetery.
Since the relatives of the deceased did not agree to move the bodies, there are still two graves at Savannah / Hilton Head Airport. Only instead of eternal rest on a peaceful farm, the deceased are now part of the runway. Two flat markers were applied to the graves, thanks to which Richard and Katherine Dotson will not be forgotten soon.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport (aka Madeira Airport), Portugal
This airport is famous not only for the eerie statue of a football star, but also for its runway. Initially, it was short and difficult to land due to the surrounding mountains and the ocean. In the 1980s, the runway was expanded to include a platform over the ocean. It is supported by 180 columns, and the runway itself is partly on land and partly above the sea.
In 2004, the International Association for the Design of Bridges and Engineering Structures selected the airport expansion project as the winner in the Outstanding Construction nomination.
2. Courchevel Airport, France
Landing in the heart of the French Alps is not an easy task even for an experienced pilot. And in order for them to not have “life seemed like honey”, the runway was not equipped with the ILS radio navigation system, which facilitates landing in fog and rain.
One of the strangest airports in the world is only for small planes and helicopters in the highlands, and it's a bit like landing on a ski slope.
The runway at the Courchevel Airport is short (520 meters), and in the middle of it is a large hill with a slope of 18.5%.
Due to the surrounding mountains, the airport is one of the most inaccessible in the world, and you are unlikely to be able to arrive there in inclement weather or at night, because it does not have night lighting.
By the way, in the film “Golden Eye” about James Bond there is a mention of this famous runway.
1. Paro Airport, Bhutan
Landing at Bhutan's only international airport is so dangerous that only eight pilots are certified to perform this air feat. It is surrounded by mountain peaks 5000 meters high, and in order to get to a short runway at an altitude of 2300 meters, pilots have to make their way through a narrow gorge, struggling with a strong wind.
Airplanes can take off and land at the most unusual Paro airport only during daylight hours, so passengers are guaranteed a breathtaking view of the landscape.
