The world’s most beautiful airport landing revealed - with this surprising winner
DONEGAL airport in Ireland has been crowned as the world’s most beautiful landing.
But, forget the iconic views above New York or the breathtakingly beautiful beaches when flying into Bora Bora.
Donegal Airport in Ireland has just been crowned the world’s most scenic airport landing.
The winner was decided by an annual scenic airports poll by PrivateFly, which took into account 8,500 votes for 112 airports worldwide.
However, the airport in Carrickfin was the resounding winner.
The airport, on the top North-Western corner of Ireland, is located in a region renowned for its unspoilt natural scenery, Blue Flag sandy beaches and dramatic craggy coastline.
In the midst of this spectacular scenery lies Donegal Airport, which only has two daily scheduled flights to Dublin and four times weekly to Glasgow.
Voters praised the airport’s scenic runway for “spectacular views of the Atlantic coastline, the beautiful Mount Errigal and a beach which is the most stunning in the world.”
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Another described the landing: “You fly in over the tiny airport with the conical mass of quartitze that is Errigal mountain on your right and sweep out over an emerald sea with the perma-white froth of the Wild Atlantic Way lashing the many tiny rocky islands in a turquoise sea. Then the pilot completes his turn and dashes back towards the crescent of golden sand that is Carrickfin beach.”
Adam Twiddle, CEO of PrivateFly, commented: “Donegal is extraordinarily beautiful and deservedly sits in the top spot this year.
“Its rugged coastal landscapes were a location for the recent Star Wars movies, and it’s not hard to see why."
Passengers who fly into this small island in the Outer Hebrides, will find that the the airport has no runway.
Instead, planes land on Traigh Mhor beach - but only when the tide is out.
In third place is Nice Airport, on the C’ôte d’Azur in the south of France.
As the plane makes its descent, passengers are greeted with emerald blue seas and views of the stunning coastline.
Meanwhile, Queenstown Airport in New Zealand scooped fourth place. The stunning scenery boasts views of snow-capped mountains and Lake Wakatipu.
Saba Juancho E Yrausquin Airport in the Caribbean made up fifth place. One voter said the landing reminded them of “epic images from the first King Kong movie.”
The airport, which is the only one on the Caribbean island of Saba, boasts the world’s shortest commercial runway at just 1,299 feet long.
Results: World’s most scenic airports
- Donegal Airport (Ireland)
- Barra Airport (Scotland)
- Nice Airport (France)
- Queenstown Airport (New Zealand)
- Saba Airport (Netherlands Antilles)
- Orlando Melbourne International Airport (USA)
- Toronto Billy Bishop (Canada)
- London City Airport (England)
- St Maarten (Netherlands Antilles)
- Miami Airport (USA)