For most countries, having an airport is not just useful, but an economic necessity. Not only do they serve as a gateway for the transportation of people and goods, they are also huge job creators both directly and indirectly.
Yet despite these benefits, a select few countries do not have a single airport within their borders, often for one of a multitude of reasons.
Liechtenstein
Located between the Swiss Alps and Austria, Liechtenstein has no airport on account of its terrain and population.
A country of barely 40,000 people, Liechtenstein simply doesn’t have a population large enough to justify spending millions of dollars building an airport. It simply wouldn’t be cost-effective.
Secondly, the majority of Liechtenstein’s territory are either hills or small mountains, posing huge obstacles for any government or individual looking to build an airport in the country.
As a major business and financial center, however, no aviation infrastructure would likely harm the tiny principality’s economy, which led to the construction of Balzers Heliport in 1976.
Located in the village of Balzers, in the south of the country, the heliport serves all of the country’s needs, providing fixed-price passenger charters in and out of the country, as well as cargo and pilot training flights too.
As Liechtenstein is a member of the Schengen Area, and thus has no border-control facilities, the heliport only allows flights originating or terminating in other Schengen Area countries.
For those looking to visit Liechtenstein via fixed-wing aircraft, their only option would be to fly to St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport or Zurich Airport in Switzerland or Friedrichshafen Airport in Germany.
From there, they could either catch a helicopter charter to Balzers, drive, catch a bus or train to the country. Helicopter charters are by far the most common for business travelers, whilst trains are the most common for vacationers.
Monaco
Despite being a favorite destination of the world’s rich and famous, who often own fleets of aircraft, Monaco does not have an airport for them to land and store their “toys” at.
Instead, the tiny micronation is served by the Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, which is located less than 30 km (18 miles) from the country. This airports has both commercial and business aviation terminals, as it is the main airport serving the Côte d’Azur.
A regular train service connects the airport to Monaco, as do regularly scheduled helicopter flights between the airport and the Monaco Heliport (also known as the Monte Carlo Heliport), the only such facility in the tiny principality.
Main operators of helicopter flights between the airport and heliport are: Monacair (presently owned by the nephews of reigning Prince Albert II), Heli Securite and Heli Air Monaco.
San Marino
Technically speaking, San Marino does have an airport, unlike many of the other entries on this list. It’s not recognized as such.
Located in the south of the village (curazia) of Torraccia is Torraccia Airfield, an airfield that’s been in operation since the 1970’s and whose runway is a mere 2,050 ft (625 m) long.
Due to its incredibly short runway, the airfield is unable to support anything larger than a small single engine GA aircraft, hence it being managed by Aeroclub San Marino, a local flying club based at the airport.
For those looking to travel to or from San Marino via air, the closest airport would be Federico Fellini International Airport in neighboring Italy or Bologna Airport, also in Italy, which is slightly further away.
Aside from the small airstrip at Torraccia, San Marino also has two heliports. The first (and smaller of the two) is located at Torraccia Airfield, and generally handles all of the country’s GA helicopter flights.
The second (and thus larger) heliport is located in the commune of Borgo Maggiore, and similarly handles GA helicopter flights, as well as those flights from the occasional visiting foreign dignitary.
Vatican City
As the world’s smallest country at only 0.49 km2 (0.19 sq mi), it would be physically impossible to have an airport in the Vatican due to a lack of space. Even without all the historical buildings, it would still be impossible!
You simply couldn’t build a runway long enough to accommodate any type of fixed-wing aircraft.
Due to this fact, and that the Vatican is an enclave surrounded by the City of Rome, the Vatican is served by the airports of Rome, namely Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport and Ciampino–G. B. Pastine International Airport.
To aid the Pope, other Papal officials as well as foreign dignitaries visiting the Vatican, Pope Paul VI had the Vatican City Heliport constructed in the Vatican Gardens in 1976.
This allows officials to travel short-haul routes that could be done via a motorcade, but would take too long or cause undue inconvenience to other road users in both Rome and the Vatican.
When the Pope flies from the Vatican City Heliport, he always does so on an AgustaWestland AW139 VIP transport helicopter operated by the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare).
Andorra
Nestled high away in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain, Andorra seemingly has the same issues the Vatican City has: A lack of space, albeit for a different reason.
For the Vatican, the issue is both geographical – there’s not enough room to build a straight runway long enough to be of value – and urban – the tiny state is full of centuries-old buildings you’d need to demolish to build an airport.
For Andorra, however, their issue is a different type of geographical issue. If the land was flat, there would be enough room to accommodate an airport, however, as most of the country’s terrain is mountain, it poses several issues.
Firstly, it would likely involve flattening entire mountains, which would pose both operational and environmental issues that would need to be addressed.
Secondly, it would pose safety issues, as mountain airports have dramatically higher crash rates than more traditional airports do, thanks to the added complexity of both descending and avoiding clipping mountains on both sides of the aircraft at the same time.
Much like the Vatican, Andorra too has built heliports to at least try to alleviate this problem.
At present, there are three privately-owned and operated heliports in the country, the largest of which is Andorra La Vella Heliport in the nation’s capital. And whilst there are no regularly scheduled flights out of these heliports, there are frequent fixed-price charters.
Typically, these helicopter charters are to one of the neighboring airports in France and/or Spain which also serve Andorra due to their geographical proximity to tiny mountainous nation.
On the French side, the closest airports are: Toulouse-Blagnac, Carcassonne Airport and Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport whilst on the Spanish side they are: Lleida-Alguaire Airport, El Prat Airport, and Girona-Costa Brava Airport.
The nearest airport, and the one most typically used by those looking to get to Andorra by air is Andorra-La Seu D’Urgell Airport, which is 27 km (17 miles) south of the capital of Andorra La Vella, on the Spanish side.
Palestine
Though there is serious debate as to whether or not Palestine is a country or not – a debate we could not possibly comment on – there isn’t an operational airport within the territory generally recognized to be Palestinian.
And they key word there is operational. Indeed, there are three airstrips within Palestine, one in the West Bank and two in the Gaza Strip.
If you know anything about the Israel-Palestine Conflict, you can probably guess why these airports are no longer operational: They were shut down after the Second Intifada.
After the creation of the State of Israel and the partition of Palestine, these airports were allowed to remain in operation.
Over time, however, the continued operation of these airports posed security issues for the IDF, as these airports could easily have gone from hosting commercial flights to military ones for a preemptive strike against Israel.
Following the Second Intifada, where Palestine staged an uprising against Israeli occupation, and their defeat, Israeli Defense Forces closed down the airports and subsequently bulldozed them to remove the perceived threat entirely.
A fourth airport, Muqeible Airfield, located in the West Bank, was abandoned after the end of WWII and subsequently fell into a state of disrepair, resulting in much of the land becoming farmland, which continues to the present day.
Western Sahara
Much like the aforementioned Palestine, Western Sahara (officially: Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) is a partially recognized state often considered a part of neighboring Morocco.
At present, there are three airports in what’s generally recognized as being Western Sahara’s territory. However, due to their economic importance, they are under Moroccan control.
For Hassan I Airport, Moroccan control is done through state-owned company ONDA (who also operate Mohammed V Airport in Morocco proper) and Smara Airport finds itself under the direct control of the Moroccan Armed Forces.
The remaining Dakhla Airport finds itself under mixed ONDA-Moroccan Armed Forces control, as it is both a military and commercial airport, similarly to how Singapore’s Changi Airport is used by both airlines and the RSAF.
Prior to its closure in the 1970’s, a fourth airport served La Güera, Western Sahara’s southernmost town. The airport closed in the aftermath of the Battle for La Güera, which rendered a large part of the airport inoperable.
Despite their loss in the battle, and Mauritania keeping de facto control over the town (which is now abandoned) including the airport, Western Sahara continue to claim the land as part of their territory.
Regardless, what remained of La Güera Airport has been buried by sand and is unlikely to ever be returned to operability even if Western Sahara were to regain control of the town.
Should these countries build airports of their own or stay as they are? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of James via Flickr.