Here are 38 Interesting Airport facts.
1-5 Airport Facts
1. To help airline passengers deal with travel anxiety, San Francisco International Airport has hired the nation’s first airport therapy pig. LiLou wears costumes and performs tricks to help travelers calm down before boarding their flights. – Source
2. In Rwanda, plastic bags are illegal and carry with them a 100-$150 fine. In fact, at airport customs all plastic bags are confiscated which has resulted in Rwanda is one of the most litter-free countries in Africa. – Source
3. Genoa Airport in Italy makes one exception to the 3 ounces of liquid rule for pesto, which goes through a special pesto scanner. – Source
4. An airline pilot ordered 30 pizzas for his passengers, after finding out they would be delayed 2 hours for weather. The pizzas were delivered within 30 minutes by Domino’s and were cleared by security and sent directly to the plane in an official airport vehicle. – Source
5. O’Hare airport is named after an American fighter pilot who was the lone defender during an attack on his carrier, then was killed leading the first night defense against a Kamikaze attack. Two years earlier, his own father was murdered for being the only man willing to testify against Al Capone. – Source
6-10 Airport Facts
6. Airport runway numbers actually indicate direction on a compass. – Source
7. When three-letter airport codes became standard, airports that had been using two letters simply added an X. – Source
8. Houston Airport received many complaints about baggage wait times. In response, they moved baggage claim further away so the walk was longer than the wait. The number of complaints dropped. – Source
9. Denver International Airport (at 53 sq miles) is larger than Manhattan, San Francisco, and Miami and is the 2nd largest airport in the world. – Source
10. During the peak of Ebola news in 2014 people started to avoid Liberia Airport in Costa Rica thinking that it was the country in Africa. – Source
11-15 Airport Facts
11. Yugoslavia spent $6 billion constructing an underground airport that can withstand a direct strike from a 20 kiloton nuclear warhead. – Source
12. There is a store in Alabama where you can buy items found in unclaimed airport items of baggage. – Source
13. A Boeing 727 aircraft was stolen out of an airport in 2003. Neither the plane nor the two men aboard were ever found. – Source
14.The toilets at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport pass the white-glove test. A realistic looking housefly is painted inside the men urinals so that men will aim at the fly and try to wash it down the drain. The fly-in-urinal research found that the etching reduced spillage by 80 percent. – Source
15. San Francisco International Airport is essentially built on top of 267 ball bearings whose support columns are capable of moving 20 inches any direction during an earthquake. – Source
16-20 Airport Facts
16. Students use the Conakry International Airport parking lot lights to study as it is one of the few illuminated public places in a country that only 5% has access to electricity. – Source
17. In 4 out of 10 of the UK’s largest airports, it is cheaper to park a light aircraft for 24 hours than to park your car. – Source
18. There is a library in Estonian Airport, where you can borrow books for your trip and the whole thing operates off an honor system. – Source
19. Some Colorado airports have marijuana amnesty boxes for passengers who want to dispose their medicine before a flight. – Source
20. Using facial recognition software, an airport’s vending machine dispensed free coffee for anyone who yawned. – Source
21-25 Airport Facts
21. The Tijuana International Airport in Mexico lies along the US border and even includes a terminal on the US side, making it the only airport to have terminals in two countries. – Source
22. Schiphol Airport sends Heathrow a cake when a delay in its expansion occurs as a thank you for helping their own airport increase numbers. – Source
23. Only 8 pilots are certified to land at Paro Airport, Himalaya. It’s considered the most challenging airport to land at in the world. – Source
24. Less than 30% of Chinese airspace is available for commercial use, compared to over 80% in the US. This is one of the main reasons why Chinese airports see so many delays and cancellations each day. – Source
25, Carrying Arabic flashcards is considered a valid reason for arrest in a US airport. – Source
