Airport hotels blog

Gibraltar Airport

This airport has a very unusual runway.  It’s been built across a busy road, an impractical yet necessary setup because of the lack of space on the narrow peninsula of Gibraltar.  When a plane goes for a take off or landing, the main road to Spain has to be blocked off to allow it to pass.

Bilbao Airport

This airport in Spain has an unique and striking terminal building.  It’s made of white concrete and steel and is nicknamed “The Dove” because of its shape.  It was designed by world-renowned architect Santiago Caltrava and built during the 1990’s. He is both an architect and an engineer and has been praised for bridging the gap between these 2 art forms.

Siemens Airport Centre

This is the most high tech airport in the world…but its passengers never leave the ground.  It’s located near Nuremburg in Germany and has the systems and facilities to serve an airport the size of Heathrow, but it’s actually a sophisticated training and testing facility.  Passengers are identified with 3-D facial scanners and observed by automatic monitoring systems which flag up emergencies or risky situations, such as an abandoned piece of luggage or a person who has just collapsed.  Here, a boarding pass is a barcode in a text message, which the passenger holds over a reader to gain access at the gate.  Luggage is transported on conveyer belts travelling at a world record-breaking speed of 10 metres per second.  The technology they’re developing here could soon be seen in real airports around the world.

Spaceport Singapore

But if you really want to look into the future, check out this Spaceport.  Yet to be built, it will be located near Changi Airport and aims to be the first tourist facility of its kind.  It will offer astronaut training and flight simulation experiences as well as actual suborbital space trips on the Explorer Space Vehicle, which can hold 5 passengers.  They will be blasted 64 miles above the surface of the Earth and experience about 5 minutes of continuous weightlessness.

Iqaluit Airport

And from the sublime to the yellow submarine…this bright little airport in Nunavut, Canada is certainly eye-catching.  But it’s unusual in another way as well.  Its geographical location halfway between Hollywood and Europe makes it a busy stopping place for the private jets of the rich and famous, and consequently it’s one of the best airports in the world for celebrity spotting.

Credits

Photo 1 – Mark Ashley

Photo 2 – Wayfaring Travel Guide

Photo 3 – Siemens

Photo 4 – Space Fellowship

Photo 5 – Travel Blog

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What’s the most unusual airport you’ve ever visited?  Please leave your comments below.