What's the most obscure airport you've visited?

[AviatorPJ]

For an international airport.
Mine is Bossaso airport, in Northern Somalia. (BSA)

Bender Qassim International Airport

Bosaso Airport, also known as Bosaso International Airport, is an airport in Somalia. Mapcarta, the open map.

mapcarta.com

I was based in Erigavo that has a local airport at 1,804 meters above sea level. I never flew in there. Mainly used back then by light aircraft flying Khat in from Yemen.

Erigavo Airport

Erigavo Airport is an airport serving Erigavo, the capital of the Sanaag region in Somaliland. Erigavo Airport has an elevation of 1,804 metres.

mapcarta.com

Khat - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

However, I did fly into and out from this regional airport on several occasions in Phongsali (PSQ)

Boun Neua Airport · JWW2+55W, Boun Neua, Laos

★★★★☆ · Regional airport

goo.gl

 

[Per_Travels]

KIH - Kish Island, Iran
OMAS - Das Island, UAE

 

[Ade]

JMO - Jomsom Airport, Nepal en-route to a temple in the Thorong La mountain pass

I may have pics of this airport - will post it when I find it. Was supposed to be part of a trip report, I never got around to.

 

[Flying Fox]

For me -

Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (ZNZ) - Zanzibar, Tanzania

Maun International Airport (MUB) - Maun Botswana

Faleolo International Airport (APW) - Samoa

 

[downgraded]

Does Musgrave roadhouse count?
Or Lukla (LUA).

 

[Scarlett]

Lots of random patches of dirt (and grass and even some asphalt) listed in this thread so far, clearly accessed by light aircraft and helicopters.
(someone will come along shortly with an offshore oil rig, or top of a city skyscraper I’m sure). Given that the thread title is visited rather than flown into/out of, I’d nominate Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Nth Carolina, USA.

But the title does also say ‘airport’ and much of what has already been posted are fields, and/or air strips; even airfields, for those tin shack sites. Maybe @Mattg could put some bounds on what he considers an ‘airport’ to be? Or maybe not…

I personally think an ‘aircraft operating site’ only really qualifies as an airport if it has RPT operations being conducted; the ‘port’ bit of the word indicating passengers routinely coming and going rather than an ad hoc charter site or something else ‘special purpose’. And with that out of the way I’ll nominate:
- GAN, funnily enough Gan Island in the Maldives. Flown into and out of via UL A320.
- IUE, which is the airport on Niue, flown into and out of onboard NZ A320.
- KRP, Karup with short lived Danish airline Cimber Sterling, via ATR72.

 

[Mattg]

But the title does also say ‘airport’ and much of what has already been posted are fields, and/or air strips; even airfields, for those tin shack sites. Maybe @Mattg could put some bounds on what he considers an ‘airport’ to be? Or maybe not…

If I had to put a definition, I'd say any airfield with an ICAO code.

 

[Quickstatus]

RSE - Rose Bay

What is the IATA for Lake burley griffin. I heard there are plans for Seaplanes between The lake and rose bay

 

[straitman]

The Bass Strait oil & gas platforms all have IATA & ICAO codes and I have been to them all numerous times.

(A rough average of 4000 times to each of the 18 platforms)

 

[oobi doobi]

For me it’s SYZ. Shiraz Shahid Dastgheib international airport Iran.
Also GPI. Glacier park international airport in Kalispell Montana.

cheers

 

[jpp42]

What is the IATA for Lake burley griffin. I heard there are plans for Seaplanes between The lake and rose bay

There was talk of it pre-Covid and they did a demonstration flight, but all quiet since then.

 

[Peso]

Don't think anyone on AFF ever talked about Kao (KAZ) or Morotai (OTI) airports - both in the Halmahera Islands, east of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia.

Flew into KAZ about 9 years ago, back then it was just a house and a runway. Wings Air knowingly left most of the passenger bags behind in Manado (MDC) as they loaded a ton of fuel and doing a sort of milk run route (MDC-KAZ-TTE-MDC). Hot and humid and we didn't have a change of clothes until the bags arrived at our hotel close to midnight. Next day took a boat to Morotai and flew from OTI to Ternate (TTE) on a military plane, which was pretty cool.

 

[straitman]

If using RPT as a criteria then here is a pic of the OLD Rabaul airfield. (AYRB)

I lived in a tent on that airfield for about 3 months whilst in the RAAF and we were in New Britain doing mapping Survey, The 0600 Fokker Friendship was our wakeup alarm every morning.

Unfortunately that airfield is now under several metres of volcanic ash and the airfield and designator have moved to nearer Kokopo which is now the capital of New Britain.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

I like the ICAO code for Niue is NIUE (IATA code is IUE). Not that obscure but perhaps unique?

 

[jpp42]

I like the ICAO code for Niue is NIUE (IATA code is IUE). Not that obscure but perhaps unique?

Another use of that form is KEYW for Key West, Florida (IATA code EYW), due to continental US airports mostly being K prefixed to the IATA. I haven't been there however!

Along those lines, the ICAO code for Kahalui, Maui, Hawaii, is PHOG named after Jimmy Hogg, with the H reused as all Hawaii airports start with "PH." (IATA code is OGG). Have been here but not obscure

 

[Flyfrequently]

If I had to put a definition, I'd say any airfield with an ICAO code.

Travelling with my Dad to visit family on Christmas Eve 1974 MEL to YMTG, the plane had a stopover in Hamilton (HMT)
just a shed and a runway!

 

[kookaburra75]

There was talk of it pre-Covid and they did a demonstration flight, but all quiet since then.

It's getting closer. They were hoping to start in first half of this year, so they still have a few months to get going.

Seaplanes are go for Lake Burley Griffin | Riotact

Seaplanes will be landing and taking off from Lake Burley Griffin in the first half of 2023 after the National…

the-riotact.com

 

[justinbrett]

Another use of that form is KEYW for Key West, Florida (IATA code EYW), due to continental US airports mostly being K prefixed to the IATA. I haven't been there however!

Along those lines, the ICAO code for Kahalui, Maui, Hawaii, is PHOG named after Jimmy Hogg, with the H reused as all Hawaii airports start with "PH." (IATA code is OGG). Have been here but not obscure

Well, it's K affixed to the FAA code, not IATA.

It just so happens that the FAA code and IATA codes usually are the same - but not always.

And similar to PHOG, the H in PHNL is for Hawaii, not Honolulu.

 

[randompunter]

Been to a few weird ones in the developing world but for some reason TRR seemed to pop into my mind when I saw this thread. TRR - China Bay Airport near Trincomalee in NE Sri Lanka. ~2013, so not too long after the civil war ended and tourism in the Tamil areas was still in its infancy. The Sri Lankan air force was operating civilian flights (perhaps still are??) on a Xian MA60 from the old Colombo airport Ratmalana (RML) to TRR. They made the young air force recruits create hand-written boarding passes and a couple of cute females in uniform got to play at being flight attendants and even handed out bags of lollies on the flight. Was a great experience. The vintage Ratmalana airport terminal seemed to be untouched since the 60s, was like a museum - also good fun!

 

[Beano]

Gove in the Northern Territory.

Agree. me too. Or even Moree.