International airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer runways and have facilities to accommodate the heavier aircraft such as the Boeing 747 & Airbus A380 commonly used for international and intercontinental travel. International airports often also host domestic flights, which often help feed both passengers and cargo into international ones (and vice versa).
Buildings, operations and management have become increasingly sophisticated since the mid-20th century, when international airports began to provide infrastructure for international civilian flights. Detailed technical standards have been developed to ensure safety and common coding systems implemented to provide global consistency. The physical structures that serve millions of individual passengers and flights are among the most complex and interconnected in the world. By the second decade of the 21st century, there were over 1,200 international airports and almost two billion international passengers along with 50 million metric tonnes of cargo passing through them annually.
In August 1919, Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, in London, England, was the first airport to operate scheduled international commercial services. It was closed and supplanted by Croydon Airport in March 1920. In the United States, Douglas Municipal Airport in Arizona became the first international airport of the Americas in 1928.
The precursors to international airports were airfields or aerodromes. In the early days of international flights, there was limited infrastructure, "although if engine problems arose there were plenty of places where aircraft could land". Since four-engined land planes were unavailable for over-water operations to international destinations, flying boats became part of the solution. At the far end of the longest international route (which became the Kangaroo Route), on-water landing areas were found in places such as Surabaya and in the open sea off Kupang. In Sydney, Rose Bay, New South Wales, was chosen as the flying boat landing area.
International airports sometimes serve military as well as commercial purposes and their viability is also affected by technological developments. Canton Island Airport, for example, in the Phoenix Islands (Kiribati), after serving as a military airport during World War II, was used as a refuelling stop by commercial aircraft such as Qantas which stationed ground crew there in the late 1950s. The advent in the early 1960s of jet aircraft such as the Boeing 707 with the range to fly non-stop between Australia or New Zealand and Hawaii, meant that a mid-Pacific stop was no longer needed and the airport was closed to regular commercial use. Other international airports, such as Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, have been decommissioned and replaced when they reached capacity or technological advances rendered them inadequate.
Buildings, operations and management have become increasingly sophisticated since the mid-20th century, when international airports began to provide infrastructure for international civilian flights. Detailed technical standards have been developed to ensure safety and common coding systems implemented to provide global consistency. The physical structures that serve millions of individual passengers and flights are among the most complex and interconnected in the world. By the second decade of the 21st century, there were over 1,200 international airports and almost two billion international passengers along with 50 million metric tonnes of cargo passing through them annually.
In August 1919, Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, in London, England, was the first airport to operate scheduled international commercial services. It was closed and supplanted by Croydon Airport in March 1920. In the United States, Douglas Municipal Airport in Arizona became the first international airport of the Americas in 1928.
The precursors to international airports were airfields or aerodromes. In the early days of international flights, there was limited infrastructure, "although if engine problems arose there were plenty of places where aircraft could land". Since four-engined land planes were unavailable for over-water operations to international destinations, flying boats became part of the solution. At the far end of the longest international route (which became the Kangaroo Route), on-water landing areas were found in places such as Surabaya and in the open sea off Kupang. In Sydney, Rose Bay, New South Wales, was chosen as the flying boat landing area.
International airports sometimes serve military as well as commercial purposes and their viability is also affected by technological developments. Canton Island Airport, for example, in the Phoenix Islands (Kiribati), after serving as a military airport during World War II, was used as a refuelling stop by commercial aircraft such as Qantas which stationed ground crew there in the late 1950s. The advent in the early 1960s of jet aircraft such as the Boeing 707 with the range to fly non-stop between Australia or New Zealand and Hawaii, meant that a mid-Pacific stop was no longer needed and the airport was closed to regular commercial use. Other international airports, such as Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, have been decommissioned and replaced when they reached capacity or technological advances rendered them inadequate.
Africa
Amborovy Airport MJN | Arrachart Airport DIE |
Fascene Airport NOS | Ivato International Airport TNR |
Toamasina Airport TMM | Toliara Airport TLE |
Tôlanaro Airport FTU |
Beira Airport BEW | Chingozi Airport TET |
Inhambane Airport INH | Maputo International Airport MPM |
Nampula Airport APL | Pemba Airport POL |
Vilankulo Airport VNX |
Asia
Paro Airport PBH |
Cocos CCK |
Ben Gurion Airport TLV | Haifa Airport HFA |
Ovda Airport VDA | Ramon Airport ETM |
Akita Airport AXT | Aomori Airport AOJ |
Chūbu Centrair International Airport NGO | Fukuoka Airport FUK |
Hakodate Airport HKD | Haneda Airport HND |
Hiroshima Airport HIJ | Kagoshima Airport KOJ |
Kansai International Airport KIX | Kitakyushu Airport KKJ |
Komatsu Airport KMQ | Nagasaki Airport NGS |
Narita International Airport NRT | New Chitose Airport CTS |
Niigata Airport KIJ | Oita Airport OIT |
Okayama Airport OKJ | Sendai Airport SDJ |
Shizuoka Airport FSZ |
Europe
Graz Airport GRZ | Innsbruck Airport INN |
Klagenfurt Airport KLU | Linz Airport LNZ |
Salzburg Airport SZG | Vienna International Airport VIE |
Gomel Airport GME | Hrodna Airport GNA |
Minsk National Airport MSQ |
Burgas Airport BOJ | Plovdiv Airport PDV |
Sofia Airport SOF | Varna Airport VAR |
Dubrovnik Airport DBV | Osijek Airport OSI |
Pula Airport PUY | Rijeka Airport RJK |
Split Airport SPU | Zadar Airport ZAD |
Zagreb Airport ZAG |
Aalborg Airport AAL | Aarhus Airport AAR |
Billund Airport BLL | Copenhagen Airport CPH |
Tallinn Airport TLL | Tartu Airport TAY |
Vágar Airport FAE |
Helsinki Airport HEL | Kittilä Airport KTT |
Kuopio Airport KUO | Kuusamo Airport KAO |
Lappeenranta Airport LPP | Oulu Airport OUL |
Rovaniemi Airport RVN | Tampere–Pirkkala Airport TMP |
Turku Airport TKU | Vaasa Airport VAA |
Berlin Brandenburg Airport BER | Berlin Schönefeld Airport SXF |
Berlin Tegel Airport TXL | Bremen Airport BRE |
Cologne Bonn Airport CGN | Dortmund Airport DTM |
Düsseldorf Airport DUS | Frankfurt Airport FRA |
Frankfurt–Hahn Airport HHN | Friedrichshafen Airport FDH |
Hamburg Airport HAM | Hannover Airport HAJ |
Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport FKB | Leipzig/Halle Airport LEJ |
Lübeck Airport LBC | Memmingen Airport FMM |
Munich Airport MUC | Nuremberg Airport NUE |
Stuttgart Airport STR | Weeze Airport NRN |
Guernsey Airport GCI |
Cork Airport ORK | Dublin Airport DUB |
Ireland West Airport Knock NOC | Kerry Airport KIR |
Shannon Airport SNN |
Jersey Airport JER |
Podgorica Airport TGD | Tivat Airport TIV |
Bergen Airport BGO | Bodø Airport BOO |
Haugesund Airport HAU | Kristiansand Airport KRS |
Kristiansund Airport KSU | Moss Airport RYG |
Oslo Airport OSL | Sandefjord Airport TRF |
Stavanger Airport SVG | Tromsø Airport TOS |
Trondheim Airport TRD | Ålesund Airport AES |
Beja Airport BYJ | Faro Airport FAO |
João Paulo II Airport PDL | Lajes Field TER |
Lisbon Airport LIS | Madeira Airport FNC |
Porto Airport OPO | Porto Santo Airport PXO |
Bratislava Airport BTS | Košice International Airport KSC |
Piešťany Airport PZY | Poprad-Tatry Airport TAT |
Sliač Airport SLD | Žilina Airport ILZ |
A Coruña Airport LCG | Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport MAD |
Alicante Airport ALC | Almería Airport LEI |
Asturias Airport OVD | Barcelona–El Prat Airport BCN |
Federico García Lorca Airport GRX | Fuerteventura Airport FUE |
Girona–Costa Brava Airport GRO | Gran Canaria Airport LPA |
Huesca-Pirineos Airport HSK | Ibiza Airport IBZ |
Jerez Airport XRY | La Palma Airport SPC |
Lanzarote Airport ACE | Lleida–Alguaire Airport ILD |
Menorca Airport MAH | Murcia–San Javier Airport MJV |
Málaga Airport AGP | Palma de Mallorca Airport PMI |
Reus Airport REU | Santander Airport SDR |
Santiago de Compostela Airport SCQ | Seville Airport SVQ |
Tenerife-North Airport TFN | Tenerife-South Airport TFS |
Valencia Airport VLC | Valladolid Airport VLL |
Zaragoza Airport ZAZ |
Bern Airport BRN | Geneva Airport GVA |
St. Gallen–Altenrhein Airport ACH | Zurich Airport ZRH |
North_America
Ilulissat Airport JAV | Kangerlussuaq Airport SFJ |
Narsarsuaq Airport UAK | Nuuk Airport GOH |
Oceania
Adelaide Airport ADL | Brisbane Airport BNE |
Cairns Airport CNS | Canberra Airport CBR |
Darwin International Airport DRW | Gold Coast Airport OOL |
Hobart International Airport HBA | Perth Airport PER |
Port Hedland International Airport PHE | Sydney Airport SYD |
Townsville Airport TSV |
Hihifo Airport WLS | Pointe Vele Airport FUT |