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/ Vol. 5 / No. 2 / FEBRUARY 2013
by Cesaré de Villiers
World airports
Airports and aircraft play a key part
in people's travel plans whether it's
taking a last-minute package break
to somewhere in Europe, a quick
business trip or a leisurely holiday
anywhere in the world, travellers
fly more than ever before, and while
most of the time airports are places
that don't leave any impression
whatsoever, there are a few that do:
Hartsfield-Jackson Airport
The World's Busiest Airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, situated
in the US city of Atlanta, is known for
being the world's busiest airport, not
just in terms of arriving and departing
flights but also in passenger numbers.
On average, more than 240,000
people pass through its gates every
day (the equivalent of around 90
million every year), while its five
runways handle approximately 2,700
flights each day!
The airport flies to 151 domestic
cities with 80 per cent of the country's
population within a two hour flight.
It also operates to more than 80
international airports in 52 countries.
King Fahd Airport
The world's largest airport
The largest airport in the world is
King Fahd International Airport in
Saudi Arabia, at around 789 sq km in
size, the hub has two parallel runways
that are each 4,000 meters long.
The passenger terminal has six
stories of which three are allocated for
passenger processing. The third level
is for arrivals, the sixth level is for
departures, and the fourth level is for
boarding.
Strange airports
and other facts!
Juancho E Yrausquin:
The world's smallest airport
On the opposite end of the scale,
the Juancho E Yrausquin Airport
on the Caribbean island of Saba is
commonly regarded as the world's
smallest airfield.
With the runway just 400 metres
in length, aircrafts are only permitted
to use the airport upon obtaining a
waiver from the Netherlands Antilles'
Civil Aviation Authority.
College Park Airport
The world's oldest airport
College Park Airport in Maryland,
USA is a truly historical airport.
Established in 1909, this facility
is recognized as the world's oldest
continually operated airport and saw
Wilbur Wright (who along with his
brother Orville invented and built the
world's first working airplane) train
two military officers to fly the US
government's first aircraft.
Known as the `Cradle of Aviation',
the airport is the location for a number
of historic flying achievements,
including the spot where the first
military mile-high flight by a powered
aircraft took place in 1912, while the
first controlled helicopter flight took
place in 1924.
Yakutsk Airport
The world's coldest airport
Visiting Yakutsk Airport in Russia
will allow you to experience what
could be one of the chilliest travel
hubs on the planet as the city is re-
garded as the coldest in the world.
With the average temperature
in January standing at around -39C,
passengers walking through the
lounge after arriving from cities such
as Moscow and St Petersburg will
soon start to experience the extremely
cold conditions.
Kuwait Airport
The world's hottest airport
Kuwait International Airport is largely
considered to be the world's hottest
airport, and with average July tem-
peratures reaching a high of 45.6C - it
is not hard to see why..!
Qamdo Bangda
Airport, Tibet
The highest airport
This is the world's highest airport,
perched more than 14,000 feet above
sea level. Even more impressive
perhaps than the airport's altitude, is
the nearly 3.5-mile-long runway, the
length of 61 football fields. However
long runways are crucial to making
safe landings at higher altitudes.
Mataveri International,
Easter Island
The remotest airport in
the world?
A parking place is set aside for the
island's judge, who is its governor.
There is only a tiny terminal and
nothing outside except a single totemic
figure. Three white crosses shine from
a nearby hill. Passengers are taken
to the island's only town, population
3000. The nearest inhabited settle-
ment, Pitcairn Island (population 48),
is 1,300 miles away. The runway at
Mataveri was once meant to serve as
an emergency landing strip for the
space shuttle. When it opened in 1968,
the airport received exactly one flight
a month.
Gibraltar Airport
Between Morocco and Spain sits the
tiny British territory of Gibraltar.
Construction of the airport dates back
to World War II, and it still serves
as a base for the United Kingdom's
Royal Air Force, through daily com-
mercial flights.
Winston Churchill Avenue,
Gibraltar's busiest road, cuts directly
across the runway. Railroad-style
crossing gates hold cars back every
time a plane lands or departs. There is
a mountain on one side of the island
and a town on the other and the runway
goes from side to side on the island
because it's the only flat space there.
Sometimes the runway serves as a road
and at other times it is a runway.
Courchevel
International Airport
French Alps
Getting to the ski resort of Courchevel
requires navigating the formidable
French Alps before making a hair-
raising landing at the airport. The
runway is about 1700 feet long, but the
biggest surprise is the large hill toward
the middle of the strip.
Aircraft take off downhill and
land going uphill. The hill has an
18.5 percent grade, and is so steep
that small planes could probably gain
enough momentum rolling down it
with no engines to safely glide off
the edge. Pilots are required to obtain
certification before attempting to
conquer the dangerous runway. ·