Airports are usually not expected to be anything special. If you're lucky, you might find a decent cafe or restaurant to kill some time before your flight. Or maybe all you need is some decent infrastructure, like a shuttle that takes you between terminals.
However, some airports have more to offer their passengers 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 you will.
10. Princess Julianne Airport
The airport on St. Martin's Island is one of the ten most dangerous in the world. The thing is that the only lane is not equipped with beacons for automatic landing and the pilots have to manually land the plane. All this is complicated by the fact that a short GDP begins right on the beach and airplanes fly literally over the heads of the vacationers.
9. Barra Airport, Scotland
The sandy beach is one of the last places you'd expect to see an airplane landing, but on the tiny Scottish island of Barra, that's exactly what happens. This 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 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 reality it is located on an artificial island off the coast of Honshu. Here the roar of planes taking off and landing does not bother the locals. And the fishermen who opposed the construction received generous compensation.
The island, 400 meters long and 1000 meters wide, which required 10,000 workers and 80 ships to build for three years, is connected to the mainland by a three-kilometer bridge.
In 2001, the American Society of Civil Engineers named Kansai Airport a Millennium Monument to Civil Engineering. But here's the cherry on top: the airport is sinking under water at an alarming rate, and its drawdown is 8 centimeters higher than what the designers had planned.
Kansai is not the first Japanese airport located on an artificial island. This is also the Chubu International Airport, which is included in the top ten the best airports in the world according to Skytrax.
7. Gibraltar Airport, UK
The tiny British territory of Gibraltar, on the southern coast of Spain, is home to a fairly standard airport, with the exception of one important detail: its runway runs right along Winston Churchill Avenue. This is the busiest road on the island.
Every time an airliner lands or takes off, the railroad gates hold off vehicles until it is safe to travel.Airplanes usually delay vehicles by about ten minutes, but on some days the delay can be up to two hours.
6. Denver International Airport, USA
The airport's oddities list starts right at the entrance, where guests are greeted by Blucifer, a 10-meter statue of a blue mustang with glowing red eyes. This project by the sculptor Jimenez killed its creator, and not in a figurative sense, but in the most direct sense. While the sculptor was working on "Blucifer", part of the four-ton colossus fell on his leg, damaged an artery, and Jimenez died. However, the sculpture was nevertheless completed and installed as an airport decoration.
Inside the building, you will find an impressive collection of whimsical artwork associated with a range of apocalyptic and alien conspiracies.
However, the weirdness of Denver Airport doesn't end there. Beneath it is believed to be an extensive network of underground tunnels and bunkers intended for the US government to shelter in the event of a global crisis.
5. Gisborne Airport, New Zealand
Think cars crossing the Gibraltar airport runway are at high risk? The amazing Gisborne Airport takes the transportation nightmare to the next level. After all, its runway is crossed by an operating railway.
And all departures and arrivals of aircraft must be consistent with the train schedule to avoid accidents.
4. Savannah / Hilton Head International Airport, USA
Built primarily on farmland in Georgia, the airport ran into a minor problem in the 1980s when expanding one of its runways. There was a small family cemetery right in the path of the planes.
Since the relatives of the deceased did not agree to the movement of the bodies, two graves remain at the Savannah / Hilton Head airport. Only instead of eternal rest on a peaceful farm, the departed are now part of the runway. The graves were marked with two flat markers so that Richard and Catherine Dotson will not soon be forgotten.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport (aka Madeira Airport), Portugal
This airport is famous not only for the creepy statue of a football star, but also for its runway. It was initially short and difficult to land due to the surrounding mountains and ocean. In the 1980s, the runway was expanded with a platform over the ocean. It is supported by 180 columns, and the runway itself is partly on land and partly over the sea.
In 2004, the International Association for Bridge Design and Structural Engineering selected the airport expansion project as the Outstanding Structural Design winner.
2. Courchevel Airport, France
Landing in the heart of the French Alps is not easy, even for an experienced pilot. And so that they do not generally "life like honey" the runway is not equipped with a radio navigation system ILS, which facilitates landing in fog and rain.
One of the strangest airports in the world is only for small planes and helicopters in mountainous terrain, and it's a bit like landing on a ski slope.
The runway at Courchevel Airport is short (520 meters), and in the middle there is a large hill with a slope of 18.5%.
The surrounding mountains make the airport some of the most difficult to access in the world, and you are unlikely to be able to arrive there in inclement weather or at night as it has no night lighting.
By the way, in the movie "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 for this aerial feat.It is surrounded by mountain peaks 5,000 meters high, and to get to the short runway at 2,300 meters, pilots have to wade through a narrow gorge, fighting strong winds.
Planes can take off and land at the most unusual airport of Paro only during daylight hours, so passengers are guaranteed a breathtaking view of the landscape.