One of the pleasures of flying to your destination is having a bird’s eye view to the scenic wonders of this world. Add to that the thrill of landing on a short runway, or piloting through a mountain terrain, and the plane becomes a joyride in itself. Here are some of the world’s most beautiful and scary runway approaches.
27. Los Angeles International Airport, USA
This City of Angels, surrounded by mountains on three sides is a view to behold as the flight is approaching the runway. With the Hollywood sign prominently standing out, the city shines and shimmers in the night and is sure to take your breath away.
26. Courcheval Altiport, France
The airport for the daredevils, this runway lies in the heart of the Alps, and is one of the most dangerous runways to land because of its short length and a gradient of 18.6%. But if you get over the terror of landing here, the approach shows the sun glinting off the snow capped peaks. Only specially qualified pilots are allowed to operate flights here and the flights are small with seating capacity of not more than 50.
25. McCarran International Airport, Nevada, US
The city of Las Vegas emerges suddenly in the desert as the flight approaches the runway, a patchwork of brown rooftops and tiny blue backyard pools, with constructions slowly approaching the valley’s western hills. However, if the flight is landing at night, you’re blasted with myriad shimmering lights in the middle of desert. The famous Vegas strip is clearly visible in the night flanked by brilliantly lighted casinos.
24. Wilkins Runway, Antartica
Although there’s a high chance you’ll never see this runway, but if you do, you will be greeted with a sight of landing on a runway carved into glacial ice with the help of lasers. The runway requires a team of 8 people to maintain it between each flight and maintain a level of friction. With blue sea all around, landing on a piece of ice is a thrill in itself.
23. Barra Beach Airport, Scotland
If landing on ice is not your thing, how about landing right on the beach? This unique runway is right on a beach, where the sea water covers it during high tide, so flight times vary with the tide. Beachgoers are advised to stay off the beach during the flight landings, by waving windsocks to show the airport is in operation.
22. Hulhule International Airport, Maldives
The view of turquoise blue waters of Indian Ocean, dotted with small white sands island is a sight that passengers are treated with when landing at Hulhule International Airport. The runway is on a small island near a coral reef, and serves thousands of tourists going to various islands of Maldives.
21. London City Airport, United Kingdon
Located in the royal docks in the London Borough of Newham, this is the 5th busiest airport in the United Kingdom. Its users are mainly business travelers, but the airport is at its busiest in winter months, when tourists travel to nearby ski resorts. It provides a panoramic view of the London city
20. Queenstown Airport, New Zealand
This airport serves the resort town of Queensland in New Zealand. Approach to the landing strip is over Lake Wakatipu and surrounded by mountain terrain and snow covered Queenstown hill. It was voted the “World’s Most Scenic Airport Landing” in 2015 by PrivateFly.
19. Gibraltar International Airport, Gibraltar
Have you ever heard that the road traffic is stopped to let the aircraft pass through? Well, this is what happens at this airport. The only highway into Gibralter passes through the runway and the traffic is temporarily halted, creating a backlog around the town and upto the Spanish border. Rock of Gibraltar is seen on approach.
18. Skiathos Airport, Greece
If you want to take a picture right underneath a landing plane’s belly, this is the airport for it. The runway jets out to a tourist beach and tourists gather at the airport to watch landings and takeoffs. However, takeoffs can be expensive to holidaymakers if their vehicles come in direct path of the jet’s takeoff blast.
17. Kansai international airport, Osaka bay, Japan
To construct this airport, an entire artificial island was created in the Pacific Ocean, off the Osaka Bay. The island is made to be earthquake and typhoon proof and has been awarded the “Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium” award by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2001. The approach shows the aircraft descending in turquoise blue waters just as the runway emerges in the small island.
16. Madeira Airport, Portugal
Ranked as the ninth most dangerous airport in the world, this airport’s runway has been built partially over the ocean on a platform supported by 180 columns. The landing is tricky because runway is surrounded by high mountains and ocean, with few pilots qualified to land on this runway.
15. Princess Juliana International Airport, Saint Martin
Named as Caribbean’s most spectacular airport, it has very low altitude flyover landing approach because one of its runways is extremely close to a tourist beach. Regular instrument checks are done to ensure correct landing altitude is maintained over the water. At take off, pilots must take a U-Turn to avoid crashing into the mountains looming at the end of the runways.
14. Gustaf III Airport, Saint Barthélemy
Named as one of the most challenging airports in the world, the pilots must be individually trained specially to land on its treacherous runway. With a hill at the end of one runway to a beach at the other, the departing planes fly almost directly over the heads of sunbathers, almost hitting one tourist one time.
13. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Saba, Caribbean Netherlands
This airport has one of the shortest commercial runways in the world, only 400 meters, with hills flanking one side and deep cliffs dropping into the ocean on the other. Only small aircrafts and helicopters are allowed to land here because of the short runway.
12. Don Mueang International airport, Thailand
Although this airport has been deserted in lieu of newly constructed Swarnabhoomi Airport, it is still used by low cost carrier aircrafts. This airport’s runways are in middle of a golf course, making the approach vibrant green. Whenever planes land, golfers are held back by a red light.
11. Toronto City Airport, Canada
A small airport located on the Toronto Islands in Ontario, this airport was named the “Best Airport in North America” in an Airport Service Quality Survey in 2016. The approach from seaside, verdant beauty with skyscrapers visible in distance makes this a visual treat for the landing aircraft.
10. Jackson Hole Airport, Wyoming, US
Snow Capped Teton Mountains surround the runway, making it one of the most beautiful approaches. The runway is short and at a high altitude. The airport is noise sensitive and jets louder than stage 3 are not allowed. The airport even serves as a mating ground for a rare bird Sage Grouse.
9. Paro Airport, Bhutan
One of the most challenging airports to land, this runway is situated in a deep valley on the bank of river Paro Chhu , surrounded by with snow capped peaks as high as 5,500 m. Combination of the blue river, hilly terrain, brown tiled houses makes it a beautiful and thrilling approach.
8. Cape Town International Airport, South Africa
With the famous Table Mountain in a distance, the approach to this runway offers the view to the turquoise beach and the whole city. It is the second busiest airport in South Africa and third busiest in Africa.
7. Nice Airport, France
The resort destination of French Riviera and Principality of Monaco are served by this airport. The approach offers a stunning view of the French Riviera islands with several yachts dotting the pristine blue waters.
6. Santos Dumont Airport, Rio De Janeiro
This airport is restricted to 23 operations per hour due to short runway length and difficult approach. The Statue of Christ The Redeemer welcomes the passengers upon approach, along with the sugarloaf mountain and downtown Rio.
5. McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas
For the most scenic landing in the U.S., fly into McCarran International Airport. As you descend, watch Sin City emerge as though out of nowhere from desert and mountain land. And by night, cast your eyes over the cluster of neon lights along the Strip before trying your luck on the airport’s slot machines.
McCarran International Airport is the primary commercial airport serving the Las Vegas Valley, a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is located in Paradise, about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Downtown Las Vegas. The airport is owned by Clark County and operated by the Clark County Department of Aviation. It is named after the late U.S. Senator Pat McCarran, a member of the Democratic Party who contributed to the development of aviation both in Las Vegas and on a national scale.
4. Chubu Centrair International Airport, Tokoname, Japan
This is the second airport in Japan built on a manmade island. It is made in the shape of a rounded ‘D’ so as to enable strong water currents to flow freely. The landing approach is a little scary as there’s water all around the island and it appears that the flight is landing directly on the sea.
3. Matekane Air Strip, Lesotho, Africa
One of the world’s scariest runway located at the altitude of 7550 feet, the air strip ends at the edge of a 500m cliff. So instead of flying up, the aircraft dips a little into the valley before ascending again, making this a terrifying and a thrilling takeoff. It is often used by charity organizations to reach remote villages in the area.
2. Tenzing-Hillary airport, Lukla, Nepal
Rated as the most dangerous airport in the world, this airport serves the base camp for Mount Everest climbing expeditions. There’s a single runway and the surrounding high and low terrain makes it difficult to perform successful go around, so the pilots must undergo specialty trainings to land on this airstrip.
1. Toncontin Intenational Airport, Honduras
With a short runway surrounded by mountains, this airport is named as second most dangerous in the world. Clearing the mountains and a quick drop in altitude makes it a thrilling landing experience. This has led to a number of accidents and the government is now considering a less risky approach to land by building another airport in safer grounds.
