World's Largest Airport (in Terms Of Area)

1337Delta764 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:55 am

What is the largest commercial airport in the world in terms of area? We all should know that DEN is the largest in the U.S., but what about the world?

dallasnewark · Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:06 am

In terms of existing infrastrucutre (if you account parking lots, paved roads, building), DEN is behind DFW

tonytifao · Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:08 am

I believe DEN is the largest in the world in terms of area and MCO second.

dallasnewark · Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:10 am

Quoting 1337Delta764 (Thread starter):
I believe DEN is the largest in the world in terms of area and MCO second.

The one in Riyadh is the largest in terms of area

B742 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:22 am

Quoting Dallasnewark (Reply 3):
The one in Riyadh is the largest in terms of area

That is correct, Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH) is the largest airport in terms of land space; 225 km²!

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Rob!

AlitaliaMD11 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:31 am

I know MAD has recently been up in the top 5.

steeler83 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:28 am

Quoting B742 (Reply 4):
That is correct, Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH) is the largest airport in terms of land space; 225 km²!

Yeah, I would have to say that that is one big-ass airport!!!

Back to the states though, it's DEN by land area. ORD, ATL, and MCO are up there as well, and so is my hometown PIT, but not anywhere near the size of DEN, ORD, or ATL... In terms of land area, I think PIT is like 5th if I am not mistaken...

IBERIA747 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:29 am

Quoting AlitaliaMD11 (Reply 5):
I know MAD has recently been up in the top 5.

MAD is currently the world's largest airport in terms of terminal buildings area.

However, if we're talking about land area occupied by the airport complex then there are bigger airports around the world.

bnamaxx · Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:35 am

Quoting Tonytifao (Reply 2):
I believe DEN is the largest in the world in terms of area and MCO second

When did MCO get bigger than DFW? According to each airport's website, DFW is approximately 17,000 acres while MCO is 15,000.

scouseflyer · Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:42 am

Quoting B742 (Reply 4):
That is correct, Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH) is the largest airport in terms of land space; 225 km²!

That's bonkers - so taxiing could take half an hour or more!

willbdsp · Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:45 am

PIT is 12,900 acres. This makes it the fourth largest in the US. ORD and ATL can fit in the boundries of the airport (with room to spare). This comes from the airport's website (and also is on wikipedia).

steeler83 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:55 am

Quoting Willbdsp (Reply 10):
PIT is 12,900 acres. This makes it the fourth largest in the US. ORD and ATL can fit in the boundries of the airport (with room to spare). This comes from the airport's website (and also is on wikipedia).

Oh...

Thanks for the correction! I didn't realize how massive PIT's field really was!!!!Perhaps I just forgot. I did know that two other massive airports could fit snuggly within the boundaries, but I didn't think/remember that they were ORD and ATL, the two busiest airports in the country!

Evan767 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:39 am

Quoting Scouseflyer (Reply 9):
That's bonkers - so taxiing could take half an hour or more!

LOL bonkers.... What airport in the world is there that will take you less than a half an hour to taxi?

lovinitflyboy · Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:49 am

Quoting Scouseflyer (Reply 9):
That's bonkers - so taxiing could take half an hour or more!

Taxiing to the far off runway in AMS takes about that. Flying from AMS to LHR when using that runway, (and you know what LHR is like) more time can be spent on the ground than in the air!!

But back to the topic, what about JED does that not come close. I remember last time i was there i saw a city map and the International airport was like half the size of the city itself!

Also Dubai World Central (when it opens) where in the list will that be?

Magyarorszag · Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:51 am

Quoting Steeler83 (Reply 11):
I didn't realize how massive PIT's field really was!!!!

Then have a look at that picture.

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Quoting Evan767 (Reply 12):
What airport in the world is there that will take you less than a half an hour to taxi?

You sure you don't wanna add a word to reduce the number of potential answers to your question? Otherwise I'd start by saying that in GVA taxi time is well below 30 minutes.

[Edited 2006-09-05 22:57:56]

afay1 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:19 am

I was under the impression that at one time, or still, Domodedovo (DME) has the largest amount of paved tarmac/runway/taxiway space in use. I will try and find a link!

747433 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:23 am

The Canadian Government expropriated huge amounts of land to build Montreal Mirabel in the 70s. At the time the total area available for airport use was in the top 5 worlwide.

IberiaA319 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:25 am

Quoting IBERIA747 (Reply 7):
MAD is currently the world's largest airport in terms of terminal buildings area.

However, if we're talking about land area occupied by the airport complex then there are bigger airports around the world.

Yes, in terms of terminal builidings area MAD is the largest with 1 km2 (247 acres)

The whole land area of Madrid's airport complex has a surface of 39.44 km2 or 9745 acres, so there are bigger airports in the world.

Anyway, it's a big airport

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sv2008 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:30 am

I went to MAD a few years ago (2002) and don't remember it been that big......I think it has been extended since then but i'm not sure......

IberiaA319 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:39 am

Quoting Sv2008 (Reply 18):
went to MAD a few years ago (2002) and don't remember it been that big......I think it has been extended since then but i'm not sure......

Well you haven't seen the massive new terminals for Iberia and One World partners (and other carriers), the old ones are for Skyteam and Star Alliance (and LCCs). Currently MAD has 104 parking positions with jetways.

These are the new ones.

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AADC10 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:17 am

In the case of DEN much of the land will never really be used for the airport. It is a buffer zone to prevent encroaching development from moving in and complaining about the noise. Riyadh apparently also includes a great deal of undeveloped land. Dubai is proposing a new airport with tons of empty desert within its boudries as well. HNL is very large if you include the connected Hickam airbase, although it is not for commerical use.

It would be interesting is sombody could calculate the total runway area to see which airport has the most.

AirTranTUS · Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:57 am

A little off topic, but TUS owns more land than LAX. And they want more. TUS doesn't use it all, but they want to do that too.

HiJazzey · Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:08 am

Technically speaking all 3 international airports in Saudi Arabia are enormous:

JED - 105 sq km
RUH - 225 sq km
DMM - 776 sq km !!!

But these are just numbers on paper. They don't reflect the real world. Those airports aren't anything like that big.

DMM for instance only occupies 43 sq km of that 776.

They are just exclusion zones to prevent the cities encroaching on the airport, really.

flyf15 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:13 am

Anyone know where DTW fits into the mix? It is a very large airport... one of the few in the world with 6 runways.

EK413 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:05 pm

B742

Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH) is the largest airport in terms of land space; 225 km²!

Umm, okay is this really neccessary. . . Must be a buffer zone to prevent residents from complaining about noise . . ?

EK413

N200WN · Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:47 pm

Land area is interesting, but it really doesn't tell us much as to how large the actual airport is, since so much of the acreage is undeveloped.

I would rather know how many runways and gates an airport has when talking about which is the largest airport.

jacobin777 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:56 pm

Quoting Lovinitflyboy (Reply 13):

Also Dubai World Central (when it opens) where in the list will that be?

JXB (what it will be called) will be larger than ORD+LHR combined... Wow!

moek2000 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:27 pm

I flew both into RUH and MAD, from what I remember, both airports required a good 15-20 min taxi... The difference, RUH has long taxiways and runways with nothing around except desert and MAD has buildings, hangers and etc around the taxiways.

EK413 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:17 pm

Moek2000

The difference, RUH has long taxiways and runways with nothing around except desert and MAD has buildings, hangers and etc around the taxiways.

In other words MAD has scenery as opposed to RUH having nothing but SAND to keep the pax entertained for the long taxi to bay!!! Big grin

EK413

GoMEA · Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:18 pm

Knowing very well RUH, I can tell you RUH is indeed huge, just because runways are on both sides of the terminal.

However, taxi times are quick as there is little traffic outside pilgrimage and SV pilots would taxi the mighty 743, 777 and MD90 as speeds of 40-50mph as they know very well the taxiways and the scheme itself is very simple

You have to add to that a terminal and parking area used only for pilgrimage period when charters come from all over the world.

There is also a huge mosque for 4000 people I think as well as the Royal Terminal (with parking lots for those mighty Jumbos - The royal family has I think 1 747 SP, 1 741, 1 743 and a 744)

Plus ! The Private terminal which is housing not your small Citations and GVs but 744's, 757s, 767s, 777s and the likes.

You now see why RUH is huge

samair · Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:40 pm

I always knew Riyadh - King Khalid International (RUH / OERK) was one of the biggest airports ,but how come there is only 9 photos of it in the database?

UAL777UK · Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:27 pm

Having flown into JED, the taxi time was rediculous, I thought we were going to deplane in DXB. A massive Airport, my understanding its so large because of the Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca. All the flights come into JED.

IBERIA747 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:41 pm

Quoting IberiaA319 (Reply 19):
Currently MAD has 104 parking positions with jetways.

And if we add the remote stands at Terminals 1,2,3, 4 and 4S the total is about 250 parking positions.

Quoting IberiaA319 (Reply 19):
Well you haven't seen the massive new terminals for Iberia and One World partners (and other carriers), the old ones are for Skyteam and Star Alliance (and LCCs).

There are also carriers which don't belong to any alliance operating from the old terminals.

Quoting Sv2008 (Reply 18):
I went to MAD a few years ago (2002) and don't remember it been that big......

If we're talking just about terminals, the combined floor area of Terminals 1, 2 and 3 is about 250,000 sq. meters and they have 85 boarding gates (about 35 of them equipped with jetways).

CHRISBA777ER · Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:51 pm

Quoting Samair (Reply 30):
I always knew Riyadh - King Khalid International (RUH / OERK) was one of the biggest airports ,but how come there is only 9 photos of it in the database?

Because taking photos of things like that in Saudi will get you a stretch inside, and probably cost you the skin off your back as well.

cornish · Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:06 pm

Quoting CHRISBA777ER (Reply 33):
Because taking photos of things like that in Saudi will get you a stretch inside, and probably cost you the skin off your back as well.

Exactly - have a look at how few pics there are of DEL too for example. The only reason there is a fair few of BOM is thanks to some handly placed hight ground around it.

Actually when DEL is rebuilt it will take over a pretty large amount of land. at present its hard to know what land is actually airport owned and what's not due to a few villages actually having popped up on airport land !!

IberiaA319 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:12 pm

Quoting IBERIA747 (Reply 32):
And if we add the remote stands at Terminals 1,2,3, 4 and 4S the total is about 250 parking positions.

Indeed, but as there's so much capacity right now in MAD, the vast majority of flights are boarded and deboarded via jetways (only sometimes you see the remote stands in use for boarding). The old terminals have 42 jetways, T4S has 24 parking positions with jetways, most of them double for widebodies, and the rest, 37 are in T4.

IBERIA747 · Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:20 pm

Quoting IberiaA319 (Reply 35):
only sometimes you see the remote stands in use for boarding

Of course, but it doesn't mean they're not there. As the traffic grows they will be used again more and more often.

The parking apron in the south area is being expanded in order to be used by both passenger and cargo aircraft.

[Edited 2006-09-06 14:25:16]

Gr8Circle · Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:22 pm

Quoting HiJazzey (Reply 22):
They are just exclusion zones to prevent the cities encroaching on the airport, really.

Quoting EK413 (Reply 24):
Umm, okay is this really neccessary. . . Must be a buffer zone to prevent residents from complaining about noise . . ?

I would say the Saudi govt. has been very sensible and far-sighted in this respect.....they have seen the sort of problems that big airports face elsewhere in the world and taken necessary steps to prevent that sort of problem to airports (and residents nearby), when there is still time to do so....

Quoting Cornish (Reply 34):
Actually when DEL is rebuilt it will take over a pretty large amount of land. at present its hard to know what land is actually airport owned and what's not due to a few villages actually having popped up on airport land !!

Yes, both BOM and DEL have this problem.....if only the govt had taken steps over the years, there would have been ample space for expansion today....

N766UA · Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:18 am

Where is DTW at? It's gotta be bigger than PIT, at least the area that's actually built on. PIT has a whole ton of land with nothing on it.

airfrnt · Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:25 am

Quoting Dallasnewark (Reply 1):
In terms of existing infrastrucutre (if you account parking lots, paved roads, building), DEN is behind DFW

No, in terms of land that the airport owns, runways, terminals, etc, DEN is still larger. It also has two large freeways (The pena connector and E-470) that connect directly to the airport.

There is also some buffer space at DEN as well as surrounding the airport, but there is plans to develop that into Hotels, etc.

scoliodon · Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:08 am

In the US, DEN is largest and DFW is second.

4 airports - ORD, JFK, ATL and LAX can fit in DFW with room to spare!!!!!

It's huge guys!! You've got to go see it!!

Aircellist · Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:02 am

Mirabel airport, in Montréal, has been planned at a time when it was nice to think big...

97000 acres (393 Km2, 152 sq.mi) were bought for the construction of the airport, but in the end about 5000 acres (20 Km2, 8sq.mi) were used...

Here is a schematic map of the expropriated area, compared in size with Montréal and Laval:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Plan_transport-Mirabel.png

This is not meant to stir up things, just to remember.

[Edited 2006-09-06 20:04:00]

dallasnewark · Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:19 am

Quoting Afay1 (Reply 15):
I was under the impression that at one time, or still, Domodedovo (DME) has the largest amount of paved tarmac/runway/taxiway space in use. I will try and find a link!

Been there several times, it is not that big, it doesn't even comes close in comparison to DFW

dallasnewark · Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:23 am

Quoting AirFRNT (Reply 39):
No, in terms of land that the airport owns, runways, terminals, etc, DEN is still larger. It also has two large freeways (The pena connector and E-470) that connect directly to the airport.

I was talking about the existing infrastructure, not in terms of empty land it occupies, DEN is smaller than DFW in terns of infrastructure

steeler83 · Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:47 am

Quoting Magyarorszag (Reply 14):
Then have a look at that picture.

Yeah, PIT sure is one massive field!

Ok then, so DEN and DFW are first and second respectively, PIT is 4th, what are the 3rd and 5th biggest in the country?

yow · Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:11 am

Quoting Lovinitflyboy (Reply 13):
Also Dubai World Central (when it opens) where in the list will that be?

I believe I read at the time that airport was announced that it's supposed to be about 125 sq km.

arturo88 · Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:46 am

I think MAD is the biggest in terms of area.

IBERIA747 · Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:13 am

Quoting Arturo88 (Reply 46):
I think MAD is the biggest in terms of area.

Read replies 7, 17, 19, 32, 35 and 36. You will find pleny of answers and interesting info there.

Saludos!

BOE773 · Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:12 am

LHR is small when compared to some of these giant airports.

EK413 · Thu Sep 07, 2006 12:03 pm

Gr8Circle

I would say the Saudi govt. has been very sensible and far-sighted in this respect.....they have seen the sort of problems that big airports face elsewhere in the world and taken necessary steps to prevent that sort of problem to airports (and residents nearby), when there is still time to do so....

A very smart move...
The australian government hasnt heard of future growth! The government reserved a large area of land in the western suburbs to build the 2nd international airport for Sydney BUT during the property boom the government released land surrounding the site of the 2nd airport and now residents have made it clear they dont want an airport built there! What a great move!

EK413

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