If you're anything like me, scoring the window seat feels like winning the in-flight lotto. Not only is it easier for you to sneak in a few hours of beauty sleep (thanks to having a wall to rest your head on), but you get the best views of the adventures waiting below.
Let’s be real – most people don’t actually pay to choose a seat when booking flights. But there are some destinations where a guaranteed window seat is worth the splurge. Travel insurance provider AllClear has released a new study using eye-tracking software to find the world’s most beautiful airport runways. They analysed 32 airstrips around the world, ranking the beauty of each based on how quickly and how long each runway held participants’ attention.
Topping the list was the tiny but mighty Lord Howe Island Airport runway, which scored an impressive ‘eye-catching’ score of 85 out of 100. The tiny croissant-shaped island lies around 700 kilometres off the coast of both Sydney and Brisbane, with daily flights departing from the NSW capital.
Given Lord Howe Island is only 11 kilometres long and up to two kilometres wide, the island’s airstrip is one of the shortest in Australia, measuring 886 metres. But what it lacks in length, it makes up for in views – think lush green mountains and the turquoise waters of the Tasman Sea. Participants spent more time admiring this view than any other (2.64 seconds), with their attention grabbed in an average of 1.37 seconds.
The next most beautiful airport landings were Queenstown Airport in New Zealand with a score of 79, followed by Madeira Airport in Portugal and Pitkin County Airport in the USA. You can check out the full rankings here or see our round-up below.
These are the 10 most beautiful airport landings in the world:
1. Lord Howe Island Airport, Australia
2. Queenstown Airport, New Zealand
3. Madeira Airport, Portugal
= Pitkin County Airport, United States of America
5. Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport, Brazil
= London City Airport, United Kingdom
7. Innsbruck Airport, Austria
8. Paro Airport, Bhutan
9. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Caribbean Netherlands
10. Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, United States of America
= Lukla Airport, Nepal
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