Travel by plane, they said. It will be mildly uncomfortable and the food will suck, they said. What they didn’t say is that you would end up in a strange airport or, even worse, on a terrifying airport runway.
Gibraltar Airport – The Road Runs Through It
Let’s imagine for a second that you are the person in charge of designing an airport for the tiny British colony of Gibraltar in the south of Spain. Feels pretty darned good, doesn’t it? Of course, I forgot to mention that there’s a giant rock taking up a huge percentage of the little available space here. Thankfully, you can think outside the box, you aren’t averse to blue sky thinking and you’re rather keen on annoyingly meaningless corporate jargon as well. Great! Let’s put the runaway across the busiest street in the place then. That’ll serve the flaming Brits right for hanging onto one of their stupid colonies.
Leipzig / Halle Airport – The Road Goes Over It

At this point you can sigh as you realise that there was a better option for the Gibraltar Airport runway after all. You could have put the thing over the road. This picture looks like a Photoshop effort but it really isn’t. There is some sort of logical explanation to do with joining two runways together but let’s just pretend that Leipzig / Halle Airport has this design because the German airport designers just love to thrill and mystify us.
Gisborne Airport – Watch Out for the Trains

I’ve been reliably informed that the approach to Gisborne Airport is quite something special. The visitor looks out of his window at the stunning blue waters of the bay, the green and fertile land in the distance nd the train crossing the runway. Hang on; the train?
Maho Beach Airport – It’s a Beach with an Airport
Maho Beach is one of the most famously strange airports in the whole planet. You see, this place in the Caribbean island of Saint Martin is a beach with an airport. Actually, if you want to look at it in a more romantic way you could call it an airport with a beach, I guess.
Saba – It’s Scarily Short

The Caribbean Island of Saba has, perhaps unsurprisingly, only one airport but what an airport. At a tiny 400 metres long this is the shortest commercial runway on the planet. It’s also the most terrifying airport runway on any planet anywhere.
Barra Airport – It’s A Beach
So, you are on a trip to the West of Scotland, are you? You decided to check out Barra, did you? You are going for a walk on the beach, are you? Well, you could die! The main dangers here aren’t sharks, wild haggises or crazed fake Scotsmen who shout Freedoooom in strange Aussie accents and show you their pale bottoms. Oh no, the danger comes from the planes on the airport beach. Just as it should do in any sane place, really.
The Unknown Weird Airport – It’s, Well, Weird
I have no idea where this runway is and I fear that it might not be attached to a modern airport offering Wi-Fi facilities, long term car parking and overpriced cappuccino. However, I love the photo and it just makes me think of what the world will be like once the revolution is over and we’ve destroyed all the strange airports.
