10 of the World's Most Dangerous Airports: Mountain Runways to Icy Airstrips

January 6, 2025 | 02:40 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Air travel is often considered one of the safest modes of transportation, but not all airports offer a smooth and predictable experience. Some airports, due to their unique geography, challenging weather conditions, or extreme design, push the limits of aviation.

For adrenaline junkies and curious travelers alike, these airports are as fascinating as they are nerve-wracking. From mountain runways to icy airstrips, this article unveils some of the world’s most dangerous airports, demanding exceptional skills from pilots, as cited by Forbes and Business Insider.

1. Tenzing-Hillary Airport

Named after the first two people who successfully climbed Mount Everest, Tenzing-Hillary Airport, also known as Lukla Airport, is easily among the world’s most dangerous airports due to its location. It is nestled in the Himalayan mountains at an elevation of nearly 9,400 feet.

The airport is crucial as the gateway for climbers heading to Mount Everest. However, you might want to fasten your seatbelt since landing can be quite frightening due to its “modest runway, stretching only 1,600 feet long and ending in a steep drop into a valley.

Not to mention, strong winds and unpredictable weather make conditions even more challenging.

2. Toncontín Airport

Toncontín Airport in Honduras presents similar obstacles due to its location near the mountains. Pilots must navigate through a mountainous terrain and make a sharp turn just before landing on the narrow runway.

3. Paro Airport

Surrounded by towering peaks as high as 18,000 feet, Paro Airport in Bhutan is among the most demanding and challenging; only 17 qualified pilots are certified to land here. Moreover, since the airport runway only allows for arrivals and departures during the day, flights are not available at all times.

4. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport

Much like Paro Airport, only a select group of pilots are qualified to fly in and out of Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport. The latter also boasts the shortest commercial runway on the planet, measuring just 1,300 feet long, making it among the world’s smallest airports.

5. Princess Juliana International Airport

At designated times, people in Maho Beach, Sint Maarten, gather to cheer the arrival of aircraft that fly just a few feet above them before eventually landing on the 7,100-foot runway of Princess Juliana International Airport. While it offers an Instagram-worthy post, witnessing an airplane pass directly overhead is indeed an adrenaline-pumping experience.

6. Courchevel International Airport

Courchevel International Airport presents next-level challenges for aviators. Not only is it set on the snowy mountainous terrain of the French Alps, but the airport’s runway is also merely 1,700 feet long with a downward gradient of 18.5 percent, leaving no second chance for landing and any error.

7. Narsarsuaq Airport

Greenland’s Narsarsuaq Airport demands precision and exceptional skills from pilots as it is nestled amidst countless fjords. The airstrip is relatively short, measuring 6,000 feet, and flights often face strong winds before landing.

8. Barra Airport

Barra Airports, located on the Isles of Barra and Vatersay, is distinctive for its sandy airstrip, making it the only airport where scheduled flights land on a beach. The runway, which is only five feet above sea level, is prone to being submerged during high tides; hence, flight schedules are dictated by the ocean.

9. Svalbard Airport

Whereas Barra Airport showcases a beach runway, Svalbard Airport in Norway has an 8,000-foot airstrip built directly on ice. With limited runway lights, arrivals and departures are only possible during daylight.

10. McMurdo Station

Antarctica’s McMurdo Station isn’t your average airport: planes land on a runway made of packed snow. It’s even more challenging during winter, when the continent is dark for 24 hours, leaving pilots with no choice but to land the aircraft “blind” without the aid of runway lighting.

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