Few jetsetting joys compare to bagging a window seat on a particularly scenic flight—let alone to the most beautiful airport landings in the world. As the crew takes to the PA system and announces our impending descent through the clouds and closer to the destination we’ve been dreaming of for so long, we turn our heads in anticipation, fingers clenched crossed for the clearest conditions possible.
Madeira Airport FNC, formerly known as Santa Catarina Airport and informally known as Funchal Airport. Infamous for its short runway which, surrounded by high mountains and the ocean, is still considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world.Getty Images
Thanks to research conducted by the travel insurance specialists at AllClear, we now know which flights are worth fighting over a window seat for. The team conducted a global eye-tracking study to discover the most beautiful airport landings in the world. AllClear analyzed which runways caught participants’ attention the quickest and how long each one held their attention before cross-referencing the two metrics to reveal which arrivals should sit atop our bucket lists.
While some of the top rankers are far-flung destinations, such as the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Australia’s Lord Howe Island and Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport, others are much closer to home. London City Airport, which came a close second in Condé Nast Traveller UK’s Readers’ Choice Awards list of best airports in the world, comes joint fifth alongside Rio de Janeiro in AllClear’s rankings. We’re not surprised, given the views across the glittering capital visible through the windows on approach.
Queenstown, New Zealand, Airport, Panorama with Mountains, airplane, sunshine, cloudsGetty Images
The most beautiful airport landings in the world
The score that follows each airport below represents the “eye-catching score,” calculated using the average time spent looking in seconds and the average time to first fixation in seconds.
1. Lord Howe Island Airport, Australia (score: 85)
2. Queenstown Airport, New Zealand (score: 79)
3. Madeira Airport, Portugal (score: 77)
= Pitkin County Airport, United States of America (score: 77)
5. Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport, Brazil (score: 76)
= London City Airport, United Kingdom (score: 76)
7. Innsbruck Airport, Austria (score: 74)
8. Paro Airport, Bhutan (score: 72)
9. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Caribbean Netherlands (score: 69)
10. Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, United States of America (score: 68)
= Lukla Airport, Nepal (score: 68)
12. Seychelles International Airport, Seychelles (score: 65)
= Telluride Regional Airport, United States of America (score: 65)
= Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, France (score: 65)
15. Wellington International Airport, New Zealand (score: 60)
= Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Canada (score: 60)
