10 Of The Longest Airport Runways In The World

In 2024, global passenger numbers showed record levels of demand 2024. This is pressuring airports to handle a growing numbers of passengers, and in some cases, to accommodate larger aircraft to transport them. Of course, without a suitably long runway, no airport can be expected to welcome the world's largest passenger or cargo aircraft.

There are plenty of airports with runways long enough for virtually any aircraft or even space shuttles, and not all of them are in locations that enthusiasts might think. Some have decades of history, while others have been custom built to fit the needs of today's aviation industry. These 10 runways are among the longest in the world, with lengths far exceeding most airports. This isn't an exhaustive list of every ultra-long runway, but rather a spotlight of the 10 most interesting ultra-long runways from around the world.

Runway length is usually dictated by two key factors: the type of aircraft that the runway is designed for, and the location of the airport. Major airports that are located at higher altitudes tend to need longer runways, as the lower air pressure means that planes need to reach higher speeds before takeoff. Warmer temperatures can also necessitate a longer runway. Colorado's Denver International Airport is both located at high altitude and warm in the summer months, and that contributes to the extraordinarily long length of its main runway.

It's not only the longest public-use runway in the U.S., but also one of the very longest in the world, at just over 16,000 feet long. The airport was completed in 1995, and is the main hub for business and leisure travelers in and out of the state. It's served by a wide range of domestic and international airlines, hence its need to accommodate large planes capable of transcontinental flights. In addition to boasting the longest runway in America, Denver International is the largest airport in America by surface area, spanning 52.4 square miles.

Denver isn't the only airport with an unusually long runway in the U.S. The Southern California Logistics Airport, Edwards Air Force Base, Shuttle Landing Facility, and Vandenberg Space Force Base all have runways of 15,000 feet or more.

As one of several Middle Eastern airports built to serve as a major intercontinental aviation hubs, Hamad International Airport in Qatar saw its first scheduled flight take off in 2014. Expansion work is ongoing to increase the airport's capacity even further, with the airport being a key part of Qatar's plan to compete against rival hubs like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. As well as commercial flights, Hamad International also offers extensive facilities for large private jets, with various fast-track routes and VIP areas available.

The Qatari airport has two runways, with the larger measuring 15,912 feet in length. The second runway is also unusually long, clocking in at 13,944 feet. The long runway length is due to the airport's role as a global hub, the high summer temperatures, and the need to accommodate the world's largest passenger jets. 

Built by aircraft manufacturer Embraer as a base for developing and building its latest generation of aircraft, the Unidade Gavião Peixoto Airport was completedin 2001. Its 16,296-foot runway was built to future-proof its development facilities, and is the longest runway in the southern hemisphere. Embraer's facilities have become a key source of employment for the region, with the manufacturer reporting that over half of the population of Gavião Peixoto, the nearest city to the airport, was employed there.

Embraer builds both commercial and powerful military aircraft at the base, with the latter primarily being ordered by the Brazilian Air Force. The decision to build the airport near Gavião Peixoto was carefully considered, with Embraer reportedly looking at 300 different sites before settling on its final location. The naturally flat land and the city's location made it optimal for Embraer to build its exceptional testing facility.

Originally built in 2003 and then expanded in 2011, Iraq's Erbil International Airport primarily serves as an international hub for commercial flights to Europe and other parts of Asia. It has also been used for military purposes, most notably by Iraqi and Western forces fighting against the Islamic State. The airport also hosts a cargo terminal to shuttle freight in and out of the region of Kurdistan. In order to make Erbil International suitable for such a wide variety of uses, the airport was built with a particularly long runway.

Its runway measures 15,748 feet in length, ensuring that all kinds of military and civilian aircraft can comfortably land there despite the region's high summer temperatures. Its close proximity to the city of Erbil, home to around 1.4 million people, has seen it become a popular hub for the region's travelers in recent years. A reported 1.8 million passengers passed through its gates in 2022, around 600,000 more than the previous year.

At a reported cost of $153 million, Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport was recently upgraded with an expanded terminal capacity and new features such as e-gates. What wasn't altered in the latest expansion was the airport's 15,502-foot long runway, which is one of the longest in Africa. The original incarnation of the airport was built in 1956, before Zimbabwe's independence, and first known as Salisbury Airport. After gaining independence, the airport was initially named Harare Airport. In 2017, it was renamed Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in honor of the country's then-leader.

The airport was once among the busiest in southern Africa, but its influence and popularity dwindled under Mugabe's rule. The latest overhaul aims to make the airport more appealing to both airlines and international travelers, with a reported annual capacity of up to 6 million passengers. Whether it will become a hub again remains to be seen, but it now certainly has the capacity to do so, both in terms of passenger numbers and in terms of its runway length.

While it isn't quite as long as Embraer's test facility in Brazil, Upington Airport's runway comes close at
16,076 feet long — a consequence of the site's high altitude and hot summer temperatures. Unlike the Brazilian airport, Upington is a commercial passenger airport, so aviation geeks can fly there to see it for themselves. The runway was built to accommodate the Boeing 747, known as "Queen of the Skies." Upington was intended as a refueling stop for intercontinental 747 flights rather than a major passenger hub. 

While the vast majority of passenger airlines no longer fly the 747, the airport has found another use as a hub for air freight. According to the airport's website, German automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz use Upington as a proving ground for testing their cars at high altitude, keeping the airport to be busy with engineering staff and development cars.

In early 2024, the leadership of the UAE's Al Maktoum International Airport announced a plan to turn it into the largest capacity airport in the world. When the upgrade is complete, the airport should handle up to 260 million passengers every year. In order to achieve that capacity, the airport will  need to handle every kind of passenger aircraft in the skies today and also the next generation of supersized aircraft. The 14,763-foot long runaway is crucial in achieving these goals. 

Cargo flights to the airport began in 2010, but it wasn't until 2013 that the first passenger flights took off from Al Maktoum. It's a relatively young airport by global standards, but a quickly expanding one. If the intended plan is delivered, the airport will surpass Dubai International Airport, which is currently one of the busiest airports in the world, with 87 million passengers in 2023.

With a length of 14,869 feet, the Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport is another ultra-long runway in the south of the African continent. It was first opened in 1964, before Namibia became independent from South Africa, and was initially known as J.G. Strijdom Airport after the South African president at the time. After Namibia became independent, it was changed to its current name.

The airport serves as Namibia's flagship airport and handles a mix of intercontinental and shorter haul flights, including routes to Europe and the Middle East. Both the airport and the city of Windhoek itself sit at a high altitude of over 5,000 feet above sea level, necessitating an extra-long runway to accommodate a wider variety of aircraft. The airport also has a secondary runway, although it's significantly shorter at 5,003 feet long — roughly a third of the main runway's length.

N'djili Airport is located near Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The airport opened in 1953 and its first operator was Sabena, then Beglium's national carrier. Following independence from Belgium in 1960, airlines such as Air Congo and Air Zaire stepped in to provide connectivity across Africa and beyond.

Today, the airport hosts a number of international airlines and is a frequent stopover for cargo airlines, too. The airport's 15,420-foot long runway is particularly useful for the latter, with cargo airlines frequently making use of older, larger aircraft like the Boeing 747.

The DRC is a regional hub for air travel, with four international airports in the country. N'djili Airport is the largest of these, especially since a 2015 development project that added a new passenger terminal. This reflects Kinshasa's rapidly growing population, which numbered approximately 17 million people in 2024. 

Matching the length of the Shigatse Peace Airport in Tibet, Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport in Russia has a runway clocking in at 16,404 feet. Although the Russian airport is now used for passenger flights, it was originally built as part of a huge Soviet industrial complex and designed to accommodate the testing of military aircraft. Today, it continues to be a manufacturing hub for various industries, including aviation.

The airport was involved in the development of the AN-124 Ruslan, the world's largest production transport aircraft. The only plane larger than the AN-124 was the Antonov AN-225, which was destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

In 1993, the AN-24 set a world record for the heaviest cargo ever carried, shipping a 135.2 ton electric generator from Germany to India. That record-breaking aircraft is no longer in production, but another massive transport aircraft, the Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A, remains under construction at the Ulyanovsk production facility. While Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport features a runway that's among the world's longest, one of Russia's newest airports has an even longer airstrip. Zhukovsky International Airport opened in 2016 to serve Moscow and its surrounding cities and reportedly features a 17,717-foot runway.