Top 10 Most Dangerous Airports in the World

Flying by air is a really common means of travel these days. But the placement of some airports can make it quite a dangerous and difficult task for one to travel by air or think about it in the first place.

10. Wellington International Airport, New Zealand

This is the third most busy airport in the country and features a single runway that starts and ends in the ocean. The runway is 2,081 meters in length and the high gusts of winds make it difficult here to land and take-off.

9. Gibraltar International Airport, British Overseas Territory

This runway crosses the main road which has to be closed every time there is a landing or a departure. The main danger still, in this case, is the strong gusts of winds that make it hard to land or depart in the first place.

8. Princess Juliana Airport, St Maarten

This airport has a single runway with a length of 2,300 meters and is extremely close to the shore that lies beneath it. The scene is a pretty intense one to watch and also became the cause of death once.

7. Narsarquag Airport, Greenland

This airport faces multiple threats to a landing. The first one being the strong gusts of winds that the pilot has to cater to and secondly a volcano that is nearby and can emit volcanic ash upon eruption which damages aircraft engines.

6. Toncontin Airport, Honduras

It is one of the world’s most dangerous airports as the mountainous terrain surrounding the small airport forces pilots to have sharp turns prior to lining up with the runway. This has caused accidents multiple times before too.

5. Madeira International Airport, Portugal

This is one the most dangerous airports in the world because of not only the strong gusts of winds that a pilot has to face but also because of the runway which was before only 1,600m and now is at 2,781m and stands on top of the ocean with pillars supporting it.

4. Tenzing-Hillary Airport, Nepal

This airport has a length of just 527 m and is for anyone who plans to visit Mt. Everest. There is no go-around procedure even after this short of a runway because of the surrounding terrain.

3. Courchevel Airport, France

This airport has an even short length of 525 m and the runway ends up with a cliff-drop, which basically means a crash if the plane doesn’t take off successfully. This makes the airport one of the most dangerous ones in the world.

2. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Saba Island

This airport is located around 45km south of St Maarten, on the minuscule Dutch Caribbean Island of Saba. The runway is just 400 meters in length and it makes it the world’s shortest one yet. The end of the runway cliff-drops it into the ocean.

1. Paro International Airport, Bhutan

This is Bhutan’s only International airport and is nestled in a deep valley surrounded by peaks of up to 5,500 m tall. Only a few authorized pilots are allowed to land here as the runway is surrounded by such high peaks that it makes it difficult to even see the runway properly until the last moment and that too with all the strong gusts of winds.