(Image: Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
The world is full of disused and derelict airfields, from isolated airstrips to modern military bases. But abandoned international airports are less common. The enormous costs involved in sourcing suitable locations and replacing their vast infrastructures from the ground up can make such projects prohibitive in many cities and countries. But nevertheless they do exist, having fallen into disuse for a variety of reasons. This article explore some of the world’s most impressive and bizarre international airports which are no longer operational, from vast abandoned hubs unable to cope with the demands of modern aviation to embarrassing failures and airports detroyed by conflict.
Yasser Arafat International Airport, Gaza
(Images: NASA, public domain; Edward (middle, bottom), cc-sa-3.0 IT)
Built for a total cost of $86 million to serve the Gaza Strip in the Palestinian territories, Gaza International Airport opened in 1998 but remained operational for just three years. In 2001, the control tower and radar station were bombed by the Israel Defense Force during the al-Aqsa Intifada. Airport staff continued to man the ticket counters and baggage areas until 2006, despite the fact that Israeli forces had bulldozed the runway in 2002, rendering it unusable.
Despite strong condemnation from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and calls for the airport to be restored, the facility, which had been renamed Yasser Arafat International Airport, remained in ruins. Shattered tarmac has since been reused in other local construction projects, and in 2010 more than 7,000 Gazan children aged six to 15 set a Guinness World Record by simultaneously dribbling basketballs on an undamaged section of ramp. The destruction of Yasser Arafat International Airport left the tiny Gaza Airstrip the only serviceable runway in the region.
Ellinikon International Airport, Athens, Greece
(Images: deconcrete.org, reproduced with permission)
Ellinikon in Athens, Greece, could be the coolest abandoned international airport around, if for no other reason than the hulking carcasses of decommissioned airliners still parked on its weed-strewn ramp. Located just four miles south of Athens, Ellinikon International Airport opened in 1938 and was soon occupied by Nazi forces who used it as a Luftwaffe base during World War Two. It remained in military hands after the war, this time America ones, who used Ellinikon for operations in the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East until 1991.
Finally back in civilian hands, Ellinikon International Airport became the home of Greek flag flyer Olympic Airlines (several of its abandoned aircraft, including a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, remain there today). But when Athens’ new airport was built as part of the Summer Olympics package, Ellinikon ceased operating in 2001. The defunct airport’s facilities were used during the games and today Google Earth reveals an odd mix of decommissioned infrastructure and disused runways interrupted by modern sports facilities, football stadiums, AstroTurf pitches and faded Olympic Rings, much of it in less than great condition. Whatever the future is for the abandoned international airport, its aviation days are clearly numbered. (Take a look inside the Boeing 747 here.)
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