Apr 14, 2022
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Only the most highly qualified pilots are able to handle the harrowing runways at some airports across the world, traversing mountains, sand and even ice.
Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport, known for an approach that required planes to skim over apartment buildings to land on a runway that protruded into the harbor, closed in 1998 to make way for a bigger, much-easier-to-maneuver airport. However, many other airports infamous for difficult landings and fatal accidents are still in use today.
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Here are 22 of the most dangerous airports around the world, in no particular order:
Telluride Regional Airport, Colorado
The highest-elevation commercial airport in the U.S. sits on a sharp plateau and is surrounded by 1,000-foot cliffs amid the San Juan mountains. It can be difficult to appreciate the lovely views when planes make the terrifying takeoff over the cliff edge.
Telluride’s 7,111-foot landing strip is seated 9,070 feet off the ground and pilots must contend with vertical turbulence caused by ferocious mountain winds during winter months.
“Nothing you want to do tomorrow is worth risking your life and the lives of your passengers today!” the airport site once said in a notice to pilots, according to Bloomberg.
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Skiathos Alexandros Papadiamantis Airport, Greece
The Alexandros Papadiamantis Airport on the island of Skiathos is situated near a beach and yachting docks — and, like the airport in St. Maarten, tourists attempt to get as close to the short runway as possible for the hair-raising sensation of planes landing overhead.
The jet blasts from the low landings are potentially dangerous to the people gathering below by the 5,341-foot runway, but many planespotters choose to ignore the warning signs.
Forbes also says that flights taking off often depart with near-empty fuel tanks to keep the plane light enough so that it can become airborne, and then refuel in the nearby port city of Thessaloniki.
Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, Colorado
The wealthy people who congregate in the ski resort town of Aspen often make the treacherous approach into Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, through a narrow space surrounded by two mountains, in the midst of roiling winds.
“When you land here, you’re shooting an approach with real walls on one side of you. It’s like shooting through a mine shaft. There’s little room for error,” one pilot told The Los Angeles Times in 2001.
A Gulfstream charter jet flew off course that same year, killing 18 people when it crashed short of the 7,004-foot runway. And a private jet pilot died in 2014 during a failed approach.
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Gustaf III Airport, Saint Barthélemy
QFS Aviation / YouTube
Only specially trained pilots can make the difficult descent over a hilltop and onto this 2,100-foot runway that ends on a white sand beach in St. Barth’s (or St. Bart’s).
Also known as Rémy de Haenen Airport or Saint Barthélemy Airport, the landing strip doesn’t include any lights, so it limits operations to daytime hours, and just serves small regional commercial aircraft and charters.
The island’s a popular destination for celebrities and passengers arriving on larger airlines typically transfer to smaller aircrafts at the Princess Juliana International Airport in Saint Maarten before journeying to St. Barth’s.
Kansai International Airport, Japan
Flayd Isoji / Shutterstock
This airport, built on two artificial islands in Osaka Bay Japan, is in danger of sinking below sea level due to the effects of climate change.
The Smithsonian’s Air & Space magazine wrote that since the airport opened in 1994, it has already sunk by 38 feet. Some parts of the islands have already reached the minimum elevation stage — 13 feet above sea level — within six years. By 2008, the airport had already cost $20 billion to repair.
A typhoon in 2018 flooded the island and 3,000 passengers were left stranded overnight after a ship crashed into the bridge that linked the airport to the nearby city of Osaka.
Tioman Airport, Malaysia
DeltaOFF / Shutterstock
Pilots head straight for a mountain and then make a sharp 90-degree turn to line up with the 3,254-foot air strip at Tioman Airport on a tiny island in Pahang, Malaysia.
“The one-way landing has to be very fast since the end of the runway has a cliff with a very steep fall into the waters below,” says Forbes.
A 2014 proposal to extend the runway to 3,937 feet to accommodate larger aircrafts never quite took off. Although there were plans to build a new airport on the island to improve connectivity and increase tourism in Tioman, those too have been suspended.
Agatti Airport, India
Julio / Flickr / Wikimedia Commons
This airstrip, situated on the southern tip of Agatti Island, amid the sparkling turquoise waters of the Arabian Sea, is the only one that serves the 36 islands of the Lakshadweep archipelago.
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A proposal to extend the 4,000-foot runway to support larger aircraft by building a platform over the beach and shallow sea area was approved but has not been completed yet.
It’s not just the small runway that’s been an issue. Rising sea levels and coastal erosion threaten both the airport and residential areas on the islands, according to a recent study.
Svalbard Airport, Norway
Alexey Reznichenko / Wikimedia Commons
This airport, one of the world’s northernmost, has an 8,000-foot runway built directly on ice.
Svalbard, located on a snowy archipelago, is less than 2 miles from Longyearbyen, the biggest town on the island, and around 800 miles from the North Pole.
The runway is insulated so the permafrost below won’t melt and shift during the summer, and flights are allowed only during daylight hours, since there aren’t any runway lights. That’s a bit of an issue when the sun refuses to rise, starting at the end of October and through the winter months.
In 2017, Norway’s civil aviation authority reportedly changed the airport’s status from international to national, as it did not meet the guidelines for international airports.
Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Saba Island
Pia L. / Wikimedia Commons
You’ll be gripping your armrests while making the landing at Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, which is infamous for its narrow, 1,300-foot landing strip, often called the world’s shortest commercially serviceable runway.
The strip on the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba is sandwiched between jagged rocks and the deep waters of Cove Bay, and only specially trained pilots are permitted to fly in the area.
However, a global travel poll from jet-booking service PrivateFly also credited Saba with the world’s most scenic landing.
Company CEO Adam Twidell says, “Saba has an exceptional safety record, making it one of the most memorable civilian aviation experiences available anywhere in the world.”
McMurdo Station, Antarctica
U.S. National Archives
Antarctica's Phoenix Runway on the McMurdo Ice Shelf is made entirely of compacted snow, which the National Science Foundation says is nearly as hard as concrete.
The Phoenix Runway replaced the Pegasus Runway in 2016, which was in use for 26 years by the Air Force, which provides flights for the U.S. Antarctic Program.
McMurdo Station, at the tip of Ross Island, can get as cold as -58 degrees Fahrenheit in winter, when it’s also dark 24 hours a day, leaving pilots to land blind due to a lack of runway lights.
Narsarsuaq Airport, Greenland
Algkalv / Wikimedia Commons
Pilots need to contend with extreme turbulence, plus the off chance that one of the nearby active volcanoes might erupt, while landing and taking off from Narsarsuaq Airport.
Southern Greenland’s sole international airport is surrounded by fjords, has a 6,000-foot runway and is threatened by strong easterly winds and the occasional drifting iceberg.
Pilots must make a 90-degree turn to line up with the runway, and takeoffs are restricted to daytime hours only.
In 2001, an aircraft failed to make the landing at night, crashing into the mountainous terrain and killing two pilots and one passenger, although the accident was attributed to improper procedures.
Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa
Sonata / Japanese Wikimedia
Despite recommendations to either shut down or relocate this hazardous airport, which former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once declared “the most dangerous base in the world,” MCAS Futenma is still in use and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon.
What makes this airport so dangerous? Well, it’s situated right in the midst of a congested urban city “with residences, parks, schools and businesses crowding right up to the fence,” according to current-affairs magazine The Diplomat.
In fact, it violates the safety standards set down for military airfields by the U.S. Department of the Navy.
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And although there were plans to relocate the base, more than half of Okinawa’s 1.15 million registered voters voted no to the project in 2019 and it has generated several lawsuits.
Paro Airport, Bhutan
Greenmnm69 / Wikimedia Commons
Fewer than two dozen pilots are certified to land at Bhutan’s sole international airport, set amid the treacherous Himalayas.
There’s no radar, which means pilots are forced to fly on manual mode at specific speeds and altitudes, and only during daylight hours under good visibility.
They also need to keep a sharp eye out for electric poles and house roofs as they make a 45-degree maneuver between mountains and a swift drop onto the 6,500-foot runway.
Pilots say they catch sight of the runway just moments before landing.
Barra International Airport, Scotland
Tom Parnell / Flickr
This airport in Scotland's Outer Hebrides is unique for being the only airport in the world where scheduled flights land on sandy shores rather than concrete or tarmac.
Some passengers take the flight just for the scenic, one-of-a-kind experience, but Barra’s runways are submerged at high tide in Traigh Mhòr bay, so you can only land at certain times of day.
Bad weather can also disrupt flight schedules; sometimes pilots are forced to fly 140 miles back to Glasgow rather than attempt a landing through tempestuous winds and rain.
Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten
Aero Icarus / Flickr
Thrill-seekers flock to Maho Beach in St. Maarten to see low-flying aircraft zoom overhead before landing less than 200 feet away.
Though the airport has earned accolades over the years, including Caribbean Airport of the Year in 2016, it hasn’t been without mishaps.
In 2017, a WestJet flight had a close call while flying through heavy rain, descending to just 40 feet above the ocean before aborting the landing procedure.
It can be more dangerous for tourists down below than for passengers in a plane, however. A woman died from head injuries in 2017 after being barrelled by a jet blast into a wall while standing near the off-limits fence by the runway.
Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport, Portugal
Richard Bartz / Wikimedia Commons
Pilots flying into this airport on stilts — don’t worry, they’re stable concrete pillars — cope with unpredictable Atlantic winds and can be required to perform a difficult maneuver to land.
Planes must fly around the airport, make a 150-degree right-hand turn and then a short approach without the use of instruments on one of its runways. When conditions are more favorable, they can use the other runway, which is easier to manage.
The Madeira airport proved fatal amid strong winds and heavy rain in 1977, when a TAP Air Portugal plane overshot the runway and smashed onto the shore below, killing 131 of the 164 people onboard.
However, this was before the runway was extended to 9,124 feet on a platform over the ocean — it initially stood at a meager 5,250 feet.
The project design was later awarded with the 2004 Outstanding Structure Award from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering.
Courchevel Altiport, France
Peter Robinett / Flickr
Courchevel Altiport looks more like a ski slope than a runway — and in fact, it specifically serves a ski resort in the French Alps, so you’ll spot tourists traversing the snowy slopes nearby.
The runway is just 1,762 feet long and serves small aircraft and helicopters only. It’s also considered the first mountain aerodrome to have an upslope runway, with the landing strip beginning at the mountain face.
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Only certified pilots are allowed to make the steep approach to the runway or the petrifying lift-off from the edge of the mountain. No lights or instruments guide aircraft through bad weather, and pilots can’t attempt the “go around” procedure, which means a plane must touch down once it has made its approach.
Lukla Airport, Nepal
Moralist / Wikimedia Commons
Often dubbed “the world’s most dangerous airport,” Tenzing–Hillary Airport, or Lukla Airport, is used by trekkers aiming to make the treacherous Mount Everest climb.
Lukla’s 1,729-foot runway ends on a mountain shelf in the Himalayas at an extremely high altitude with a sharp 2,000-foot drop into the valley below. Only helicopters and small fixed-wing propellor planes are allowed to use this runway, as the go-around method can’t be used.
And only specially trained pilots — those who have at least one year of experience in Nepal, have successfully completed 10 flights into Lukla with a certified instructor, and have completed 100 short-takeoff-and-landing flights — are permitted to fly here, according to Forbes.
The airport has had several accidents as well, such as in 2008 when Yeti Airlines Flight 103 crashed on approach into the mountain below when the pilot lost visibility in heavy fog, killing all 16 passengers and two of the three crew members.
Matekane Air Strip, Lesotho
@VinieO / Twitter
Planes drop off the face of a 2,000-foot cliff before becoming airborne at the Matekane Air Strip in Lesotho.
This hair-raising runway extends just 1,312 feet off a mountain. It was apparently closed to local and international travel in 2009, although sources say it’s still used by private aircraft from time to time.
Bush pilot Tom Claytor tells Travel + Leisure, “The rule in the mountains is that it is better to take off downwind and downhill than into wind and uphill, because in Lesotho, the hills will usually out-climb you.”
Wellington International Airport, New Zealand
Gareth Watkins / Wikimedia Commons
This airport has been named one of the best terminals in the world, but it’s also one of the scariest places to land.
Wind shear and turbulence can rattle passengers and pilots alike, and the one-lane, 6,800-foot runway that looks as though it starts and ends in the water can be rather tricky to maneuver.
Although airport officials say it has an excellent safety record with strict procedures in place, the New Zealand Airline Pilots Association has advocated for a longer runway, saying Wellington did not meet the “international safety recommendations that represent best international aviation safety practice.”
A runway extension was later proposed but has yet to be constructed.
Congonhas International Airport, Brazil
Mariordo / Wikimedia Commons
One of Brazil’s busiest airports, it’s also the country’s most dangerous, with slippery runways and a perilous location in the middle of highly populated São Paulo.
The airport first opened in 1936, when the surrounding area was marked by just a few buildings. Today the metropolis has more than 22 million people.
In 2007, amid heavy rain, a TAM Airlines commercial jet skidded off the runway and narrowly avoided a packed highway, crashing into a warehouse and igniting in a fireball, killing all 187 people onboard and 12 others on the ground.
Since the incident, the airport has increased restrictions, though it lost its international status.
Toncontin Airport, Honduras
enrique / Flickr
This airport, which is surrounded by mountains and residential neighborhoods in Honduras’ capital, has a horrifying history of deadly plane crashes.
Pilots must navigate the mountainous terrain and execute a 45-degree turn before making the steep landing onto Toncontin’s 6,112-foot runway. The site also operates with old navigation equipment, adding to the danger.
Its worst event occurred in 1989, when a Boeing commercial plane crashed into a mountainside, killing 131 people and burning most of the bodies beyond recognition.
A more recent incident in 2008, which involved an aircraft overrunning the runway and five fatalities, led to Honduras’ president banning international flights and forcing larger aircraft to use an airbase while the runway was extended.
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Serah Louis is a reporter with Moneywise.com. She enjoys tackling topical personal finance issues for young people and women and covering the latest in financial news.
