Four unbelievable airports from around the world

Airports are gateways to far-off lands. Full of hustle and bustle as people rush to make flights or meet family and friends in arrivals.

Many of these transport hubs can look and feel very similar. But some airports offer truly dramatic and exciting backdrops for your take-off or landing.

BBC Bitesize turns off the auto-pilot in search of some of the most awesome and extreme airports out there.

Barra, Scotland

Getting to the beach by lunchtime is the dream for many holiday makers - but what if you could literally land on the beach? On the idyllic Scottish island of Barra, that’s exactly what happens!

White sand, stunning landscapes and crystal-clear waters - this island has it all. Visitors come from all over to take in the breath-taking scenery, literally doing so when they first step off the plane. Because here, in the Outer Hebrides, one of the island's beautiful beaches doubles up as the airport, runaway and all.

Barra is widely recognised as the only airport in the world that uses a tidal beach as the location for commercial planes to land. That’s right, no tarmac, just sand.

This tiny airport was officially opened in 1974. It’s located on Traigh Mhor (translating from Gaelic as ‘big beach’) close to Eoligarry in the north of the island. There are three short runways in the sand, marked with wooden poles at their ends. Though when the Atlantic Ocean tide comes in and submerges the sand it’s hard to imagine an aircraft landing here at all.

With only two flights arriving a day (all scheduled at the mercy of tidal patterns and weather conditions) Barra airport isn’t the busiest, making the beach a great place to take some sea-air. Thankfully a trusty windsock signals to the public when it’s safe to be on the sand and when you need to stay clear.

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Thought the first airport on this list was cool? Well, this next one is much cooler.

The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is located high up in the arctic sea. It’s home to glaciers, the Northern Lights, the midnight sun and winter temperatures of close to -30C.

It’s also where you’ll find the world’s most northerly permanent settlement, the town of Longyearbyen. People visit here in their thousands every year hoping for a glimpse of the aurora borealis and much more. And where there’s visitors, there’s an airport. Like the town, it is said to be the world’s northernmost with scheduled flights.

The runway here is built on a layer of permafrost (ground that is permanently frozen). However, in 2025 the airport’s operators suggested that the runway could be at risk as a result of the effects of climate change.

The pilots and crew often have to contend with snow blizzards and freezing temperatures when landing at Longyearbyen. As for the passengers, once they’ve disembarked, their attention should quickly turn to the warning signs about the polar bears that roam Svalbard. Especially if they somehow miss the fake one at the baggage carousel!

Juanacho E. Yrasquin Airport, Saba

Next we’re jetting south-west from Svalbard on a flight from the northernmost commercial runway, to what is believed to be the world’s shortest. (Note, no flights actually operate between the two!)

Saba is a tiny volcanic island located in the Caribbean Sea. The island offers amazing diving and hiking opportunities for visitors. Once they manage to get there that is!

Although it’s possible to arrive by ferry, those looking for an extra thrill might consider jetting in on a locally operated propeller plane. To land here, pilots need to negotiate landing on a strip of tarmac that is just 1,312 feet (roughly 400 metres.) For context, the smaller of Heathrow Airport’s two runways is just over 12,000 feet!

Some pilots have been quoted as describing the job as “like trying to land a bird on a postage stamp”. The runway is not only short but also has sheer sea-cliff drops on three sides! Yeah, you’ll find us on the boat.

Tenzing-Hillary Airport, Nepal

High up in the Himalayas of Nepal is the small town of Lukla. Many adventurers give this place the nickname ‘the gateway to Everest’ and it’s here that one the world’s most dangerous airports can be found.

Lukla airport, or Tenzing-Hillary airport, as it has been known since being renamed in 2008, sits at an elevation of nearly 3,000 metres above sea-level. Its more modern name pays homage to explorers Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, the first confirmed people to ever reach the summit of Everest.

Lukla’s runway is just 527 metres long by 20 metres wide. At one end there’s a mountain face, and at the other there’s a sharp angled drop of around 600 metres down to a valley and village below. This means there is zero margin for error when flying in or out.

The airport was built in the early 1960s but it wasn’t until nearly three decades later that the runway was actually paved with concrete.

Looking for something a little less dangerous, but still extreme?

All these airports are pretty extreme in terms of location. But being extreme doesn’t always mean having to be the riskiest. Some airports are just extremely large, like King Fahd International Airport in Saudi Arabia, the largest airport by surface area in the world. Some airports might just have an extremely long runway, like the 4,877-metre-long one located at Denver International Airport. Or, an airport can be extremely beautiful like Changi Airport in Singapore, where nature comes inside, complete with the world’s tallest indoor waterfall.

This article was published in March 2026