The world’s smallest airport has a runway so short planes need a waiver to land

Airports are often busy and bustling, full to the brim with impressive architecture like miles-long stretches of runway and towering air traffic control units.

But not all flying experiences take place at locations like these – and, despite what we might think, planes don’t always need a huge runway to kickstart our holidays.

On the edge of the Dutch Caribbean Island of Saba is Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport – which, with the shortest commercial runway, is widely considered to be the world’s smallest airport.

At just 400 metres, flanked by cliffs that tower above the sea, it’s certainly not an easy land. A major international airport often has runways measuring more than 3,000 metres – and in some cases, more than 4,000.

For context, Heathrow Airport has two runways – the Northern Runway and the Southern Runway, which measure 3,902 metres and 3,658 metres long respectively (almost 10 times the size of the single one at Juancho E. Yrausquin).

As aviation enthusiasts will know very well, the length of the runway indicates the types of planes that might land there: so the larger the runway, the larger the plane, and vice versa.

Along these lines, Juancho E. Yrausquin typically serves smaller aircraft, like the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, which seats between 18 and 20 passengers.

It isn’t just the airport’s size that makes it unique: with it comes very particular rules and regulations. Only propeller aircraft from regional airlines (like the de Havilland) are allowed to land there, and strictly under waivers issued by the Netherlands Antilles’ Civil Aviation Authority.

When the airport first opened in 1959, it was a huge deal – and pretty much the entirety of the island’s population attended. The first aircraft landed at Flat Point, which had previously been privately owned, on February 9.

After the inaugural landing, the flight’s pilot, Remy de Haenen was banned from flying to and from the island, and as such, nothing landed on Saba for a few years, until 1963.

The island’s lack of a proper airport had become such a political issue that in 1962, the Dutch Government agreed to provide 600,000 guilders (€312,435.06 or £ 258,680.58) to fund its proper construction.

That wasn’t the end of the airport’s dynamic history either, as in 1998, the main terminal was damaged by Hurricane Georges, which facilitated winds of up to 155 miles per hour. As such, the Dutch Government agreed to replace it with a new building, which opened in 2002.

It was at that point that it was dedicated to the man who operated the very first flight there: De Haenen. In fact, one of the propellers from his first flight is still on display today.

But on the other hand of the spectrum, where’s the largest airport in the world?

At present, it’s King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia – which measures nearly 30 square miles.

Opening to commercial operations in 1999, it previously served as a US airbase during the Gulf War and is now providing connections to 43 destinations.

More than 10 million passengers travel in and out of the airport each year, with 37 airlines operating here. It’s also the third-largest airport in Saudi Arabia in terms of passenger volume.

However, it’s even larger sibling is currently being built in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Set to open in just over five years’ time, King Salman International Airport will have six giant runways – three times that of King Fahd International Airport, which currently has two.

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