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Want a journey that really is more interesting than the destination?
Then you might want to fly to one of these bizarre airports. In the
North Pole there's an airstrip built on floating ice and in South Africa
a runway with a 2,000ft drop at the end. And if movie star John Travolta
invites you to his Florida property, you've got the option of taking a
private jet right to his front door. Here MailOnline Travel reveals from
the four corners of the globe airports that are guaranteed to make the
journey the trip of a lifetime.
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John Travolta's private airport
John Travolta loves flying so much that he built two customised
runways for his jets on his Florida property. While extravagant, such a
multi-million-dollar home makeover makes sense for a man who owns seven
planes, including a Boeing 707, a Boeing 727 and three Gulfstream jets.
There is a private control center and also bed and breakfast
accommodation for other pilots to stay overnight in case of late night
or early morning flights. The house is located in Jumbolair Aviation
Estates in Ocala, Florida, which is built on Greystone Airport, and
plenty of the other residents in the estate also have fly-in and fly-out
access. Travolta is also an honourary pilot for the Australian aircraft
company Qantas, and has flown a staggering 35,000 miles on his own
already. |
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The ice runway
Many travellers find plane landings a terrifying enough prospect
ordinarily, but imagine if the runway was made of ice? That's a reality
for anyone flying into Doris Lake Aerodrome - a privately owned ice
runway located on Doris Lake in Nunavut, Canada. The aerodrome is open
from January to April and it mainly operates for gold mining on the
nearby Hope Bay greenstone belt. |
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The festival airport in the desert
Every August, tens of thousands descend on Nevada to enjoy the Burning
Man festival, but arriving at the desert location can prove a little
tricky. While many battle through the desert by car, every year, the
festival's Black Rock Municipal Airport is constructed to include two
mile-long runways roughly outlined in the desert especially for the
event. The airport is non-towered and pilots communicate via a common
traffic advisory frequency to relay safety information and critical
landing pattern details. The hub officially holds the airport number
88NV, although all traces of it disappear into the sandy landscape mere
days after being opened to the public. |
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The failed runway
The French tried to build a concrete airstrip at their Dumont D'Urville
research station in the Antarctic more than two decades ago. But they
failed when the area was badly damaged by a storm, just months before
its completion, which caused part of it to crumble into the sea. Work
was halted because attempts to rebuild the airstrip would have
negatively affected local wildlife, but small aircraft still use the
long, snow-free area to land. |
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The airstrip on top of the world
In early 2014, a new airport was opened on top of mountains in Hechi
city, southern Guangxi province, China. Dozens of hilltops were levelled
to clear the way for the airport, built 2,221ft above sea level. There
is a single terminal and one runway extending 1.36 miles that can
accommodate three flights an hour, compared to the 60 that the
mainland's busiest airports handle.
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The runway where planes have been known to drop
off a cliff
Taking off at Matekane air strip in Lesotho, South Africa, is a
harrowing experience, as the plane soars over a 1,968ft cliff-face after
taking off. Matekane's runway sits 7,500 feet up on a mountain gully, so
it takes nerves of steel to both land and set off. If a plane doesn't
manage to get up enough speed on the 1,312 ft long strip, it falls off
the cliff before it takes flight.
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The world's highest airstrip
Daulat Beg Oldi is a military base in Ladakh, India, that is located on
an ancient trade route connecting Ladakh to Uyghuristan. The site, which
sits at 5,065 metres (16,614 feet), is also host to the world's highest
airstrip. Landing planes on the strip can be tricky as the weather
deteriorates frequently, with strong icy winds.
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