10 airports where emergency landings happen all the time

Midway Island provides an excellent half-way house for aircraft flying across the Atlantic
Midway Island provides an excellent half-way house for aircraft flying across the Atlantic Credit: Alamy

As we reported this week, Bangor International in Maine is one of the busiest airports in the world when it comes to emergency landings. But it's not alone.

Here are 10 more airports that often find themselves the first port of call for stricken aircraft crossing the globe.

Henderson Field, Midway Atoll, US

It makes perfect sense that an airport on Midway Island would be a common emergency landing place for flights that come into trouble crossing the Pacific. The tiny island, an unincorporated territory of the US, welcomes no tourists (due to budget cut backs in 2012), but does accommodate planes in need of a pit-stop. One quirk, however, is that it can only allow night landings from November to June, due to the large numbers of albatross in the region.

Mataveri International Airport, Easter Island, Chile

Better known for 887 monumental Moai statues, Easter Island also serves as a stop-off point for troubled airliners travelling to or from South America and the western Pacific. Its runway, at 3.3km, nearly splits the island in two. Mataveri was once designated as an abort site for the US Space Shuttle when orbital flights were planned to launch from southern California, but the programme was cancelled.

Easter Island's airport nearly splits the tiny island in two
Easter Island's airport nearly splits the tiny island in two Credit: Credit: National Geographic Creative / Alamy Stock Photo/National Geographic Creative / Alamy Stock Photo

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Alaska, US

Today a diversion airport for planes using the Polar route, linking North America with Russian and the Far East, Anchorage is strategically situated to reach 90 per cent of the industrialised world within nine and a half hours.

Tenerife North Airport, Tenerife, Spain

This airport, formerly known as Los Rodeos Airport, was the site of the worst accident in aviation history, the Tenerife airport disaster, the 40th anniversary of which was marked this week. The two planes involved in the accident had both diverted there, having been told their destination, Gran Canaria, was unavailable due to a bombing. It is today a hub for the Canary Islands, linking Spain, Europe and North America, and diversionary airport for transatlantic routes.

Shannon Airport, Ireland

On the west coast of Ireland, Shannon is well-placed to deal with east-bound emergencies. It also has a long history of military use, both American and Soviet. In 2005, the BBC alleged that Shannon was used by the CIA as part of its extraordinary rendition, something both the US and Ireland denied.

Gander International Airport, Newfoundland, Canada

From the Forties, Gander had been a refuelling stop for flights following the Great Circle route linking the eastern seaboard with the UK. In the Sixties new technology meant aircraft could make the route without the need for refuelling so Gander began to see less planes. However, as one of the few stops linking Cuba with the USSR, Gander was the location for numerous defections from the Soviet Union, including concert pianist Igor Vasilyevich. The Vietnamese woman famously photographed as a girl fleeing a napalmed village also defected here from Vietnam.

Keflavik is Reykjavik's international airport
Keflavik is Reykjavik's international airport, as well as a diversion airport Credit: Alamy

Keflavik International Airport, Iceland

Today one of the fastest growing airports in the world, Iceland’s main entry point started life as a military air base built by the US during the Second World War. Perhaps better known for the city it serves - Reykjavik - Keflavik is out on a limb from the capital and provides a perfect half-way pit-stop for any large aircraft that get into trouble crossing the Atlantic. It is also used as a scheduled connecting point for transatlantic flights by low-cost, long-haul airline, WOWair.

Cold Bay Airport, Alaska, US

Perched on the western edge of the US, Cold Bay is regularly used as an emergency diversion airport for passenger flights crossing the Pacific Ocean, despite its ranking, courtesy of the National Weather Service, as the cloudiest city in the US. It has the fifth biggest runway in Alaska, at 3,103m.

The RAF have a base on Ascension Island
The RAF have a base on Ascension Island Credit: Credit: Anthony Pierce / Alamy Stock Photo/Anthony Pierce / Alamy Stock Photo

RAF Ascension Island

The airport here was abandoned at the end of the Second World War, having been a staging point for US aircraft. Located in the middle of the southern Atlantic Ocean, it was re-garrisoned by the RAF in 1982 for the Falklands War. It now provides a safe haven for the transatlantic route.

Yakutsk Airport, Russia

A diversion airport for the Polar route, Yakutsk runs mainly domestic services within Russia, but for aircraft crossing the North Pole en route to the Far East, it is well placed to offer help should something go awry. Yakutsk itself is the coldest city of its size in the world, with an average winter temperature of -34C.

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