NYCFlyer From United States, joined Jan 2005, 1253 posts, RR: 8 Posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 8805 times:
Hi all,
What airports seem unreasonably far away from their cities? I do NOT want this to include places like JFK, because while JFK may be far, NYC is a densely packed city and JFK is as close as it reasonably can be.
I'm referring to airports like DEN, where you drive through miles of countryside to get there.
Ready4Pushback From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2004, 364 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 8726 times:
One that immediately comes to mind is KL, Malaysia, that seemed to be seriously far. I'm sure it was 2-3 hours in a bus.
Gilesdavies From United Kingdom, joined exactly 5 years ago today! , 1955 posts, RR: 4 Reply 5, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 8694 times:
This could be a long list if you included all of Ryanair's desitinations...
Few Examples:
Stockholm Skavsta - 60 miles
Barcelona Girona - 65 miles
Paris Beavaus - 45 miles
etc, etc...
N79969 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 7, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 8690 times:
Haneda is about 12km from downtown but it is no picnic to get to either. A cab is about $65 from Central Tokyo to Haneda. The subway/commuter train/monorail combination alternative is no fun either dealing with numerous stairways, crowds, and stations.
My vote is also for Narita. A cab runs between $200-$300 to town. The bus is about $30 and slow...and it's a bus. The train is about $30 but then you have deal with the same crowded train station at the other end with tall staircases...I digress.
Japan may also have the most conveniently located urban airport in the world in Fukuoka. Only 5 minutes to the center of town by any means of transport basically. The subway fare is less than $3 to most places you would want to go.
RICARDOAB From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2004, 171 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 8695 times:
I think London-Manston is a bit of a joke considering its on the English south coast!!!
Also Ryanair's flights to major cities are quite hilarious as well. For example:
A flight to Milan lands in Bergamo
Flights to Barcelona land in Girona
and the best of all, flights to Copenhagen in Denmark, land in Malmo.......in Sweden!!!
Drerx7 From United States, joined Jun 2000, 2951 posts, RR: 7 Reply 9, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 8676 times:
IAH is a good little drive from downtown Houston--its like 20-30mins from me (without traffic) and I'm just south of downtown. And people asked why I use to fly from HOU and EFD to IAH.
Keno From Malaysia, joined Feb 2004, 1841 posts, RR: 25 Reply 12, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 8635 times:
KL, Malaysia, that seemed to be seriously far. I'm sure it was 2-3 hours in a bus.
Must be a freak traffic jam then because coaches to the city should only take about an hour. The route between the airport & the city terminal (Duta station) is usually traffic jam-free as they are almost entirely highways, which bypasses the actual (busy) city roads.
The express train only takes 28 minutes from downtown KL. It's still pretty far though, at 55km (35mi).
Sentiasa Melepasi Jangkaan bersama Penerbangan Malaysia
N328KF From United States, joined May 2004, 5317 posts, RR: 4 Reply 13, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 8619 times:
RFD is an 87.3 mile (140km) drive from city center, which it purports to serve. There are four larger airports that are closer, and MKW is actually 2 miles closer.
[Edited 2005-01-25 16:49:49]
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NYCFlyer From United States, joined Jan 2005, 1253 posts, RR: 8 Reply 14, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 8598 times:
those are all good ones. I think NRT takes the cake. Dulles is good too.
I have some from the Middle East.
AMM is a good 30 minutes down an expressway from Amman, and DAM is 35km east of the city. To go to DAM, you drive through rural farmland for 30-40 minutes, and there is NOTHING in between that and the city. At least with AMM, there is some development in between. Does anyone know anything about the history of DAM, why it is so damn far from Damascus?
Also, AUH is a good 30 minutes down the highway too.
Malaysia From United States, joined Nov 1999, 2622 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 8527 times:
The new Suvanahbummi Bangkok Airport is SO HORRIBLY FAR from City Center
I dont mean BKK, but the new airport that opens up was kinda like in
another city, I once took a bus from city center to Trat, Thailand and I suddenly saw the entrance to the new airport and it was already 3 hours into the trip!
I will miss Don Muang
There Are Those Who Believe That There May Yet Be Other Airlines Who Even Now Fight To Survive Beyond The Heavens
FraT From Germany, joined Sep 2003, 960 posts, RR: 1 Reply 18, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 8521 times:
In Germany MUC would take the first place if you don't go with Ryanair's geography (Frankfurt Hahn is a 90 minute drive away from downtown Frankfurt). MUC has a horrible train connection to the city center and some German politicians are doing everything to keep it like that.
DesertJets From United States, joined Feb 2000, 6704 posts, RR: 18 Reply 19, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 8459 times:
Most airports when they were built were considered out in the boonies.
As a boy my dad remembers going out to O'Hare Field (early to mid-1950s) to go watch the Air Force jets, which back them was about the only thing flying in and out of there. He remembers that O'Hare was considered way out there, coming from a kid that lived in the city. This was prior to the completion of the Northwest Expressway (I-94) and the CTA rail line to ORD. Say 10 years later, roughly 1965, ORD wasn't considered way the heck out there as the transit and highway system had long since caught up and large scale development in the areas near O'Hare had really taken off.
I think the same can be said for Dulles. It isn't exactly close to downtown DC. And there isn't exactly a good public transit option to get there either. But the surrounding area along the Dulles/I-66 corridor that not everyone is going downtown anymore. There are roughly 2 million people in the immediate area. And they do not all need to go to downtown DC.
Point is that especially for American cities, distance to downtown/city center/CBD becomes less and less important and more and more people live and work in the suburbs.
Stop drop and roll will not save you in hell. --- seen on a church marque in rural Virginia
Tom in NO From United States, joined Nov 1999, 7194 posts, RR: 55 Reply 20, posted (3 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 8459 times:
The thing to look at with the airports you all have been listing is that a goodly number of them are not all that old, comparatively speaking. Most were built as replacements for other previously existing airports, airports that for some reason or another (aircraft noise, lack of available land, NIMBY's, etc) could not be expanded.
These airports were located a good distance away from their city's center in order to attempt to alleviate these types of problems. IAH, DIA, MUC, DFW, IAD, NRT are all good examples here.
Tom at MSY
"The criminal ineptitude makes you furious"-Bruce Springsteen, after seeing firsthand the damage from Hurricane Katrina
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