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As an example, "Frankfurt" Hahn is actually 120 km away from the city of Frankfurt and "Paris" Beauvais is actually 85 km away from the center of Paris. Are there airports that are even further away from the center of the city they supposedly serve? To clarify:

  • Only airports with an IATA code count
  • The airport brand must either contain the name of the city or be called as such in advertisements published by a scheduled airline
  • Distance to the city center should be calculated as a direct line
JoErNanO
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JonathanReez
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16 Answers16

97

I nominate Paris Vatry airport. 147 km from Paris.

Don’t even think there’s a direct link to Paris...

jcaron
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    "A regular bus service is provided between the airport and the towns of Reims and Châlons-en-Champagne. ... Would you like to travel to PARIS from the airport or the opposite? ... Use a Vatry-express shuttle to reach the stations of Châlons-en-champagne or Reims Center and then take the train to Paris" – John Dvorak Apr 29 '19 at 19:52
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    The tagline on that website is “So Close. So Fast”. o_O – Roman Odaisky Apr 29 '19 at 20:10
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    @JohnDvorak Would you like to travel to PARIS from the airport or the opposite? Well, they're both in France so you can certainly do that! Hurrah! – David Richerby Apr 29 '19 at 21:37
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    @RomanOdaisky: They didn't specify close to Paris... – Nate Eldredge Apr 29 '19 at 21:39
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    It's closer to Belgium than it is to Paris – OganM Apr 29 '19 at 23:35
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    +1 this is the winner. There's a pretty exhaustive list here, and "Paris" Vatry comes up top: https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/06/which-airports-are-farthest-from-city.html – lambshaanxy Apr 30 '19 at 05:38
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    It is officially called Châlons Vatry Airport, and Paris Vatry Airport is just used unofficially for marketing purposes. – gerrit Apr 30 '19 at 07:01
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    @gerrit The airport's home page is http://www.parisvatry.com/ and that page also calls it Paris Vatry, so the marketing is pretty strong here. – lambshaanxy Apr 30 '19 at 11:16
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    I nearly added the fact that despite the claim by the airport to be "Paris Vatry", nobody else actually tries to pretend it serves Paris, but, even though Iberia are honest and say it's the airport for Chalons, Ryanair, being their usual selves, do call it Paris Vatry. I wonder if there are actually people landing there thinking they'll hop in a bus and get to Paris... – jcaron Apr 30 '19 at 11:52
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    As an American, I'm thinking, huh, about 90 miles. Doesn't seem that far. –  Apr 30 '19 at 15:35
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    @only_pro As the saying goes: 100 miles are a long distance for Europeans and 100 years are a long time for Americans. But it really depends on the connection - if there's a high speed train going there it's not that much, but given the existing connections those 90 miles will take quite a while. – Voo May 02 '19 at 14:34
64

The defunct Ciudad Real Airport, also marketed as "South Madrid Airport", is/was about 200 km (227km from the Puerta del Sol, the official distance) away from Madrid

Jan Benes
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It just fails to beat your 'Frankfurt' Hahn, but Lydd Airport is also called London Ashford Airport, even though it's 117 km from central London. Given usual traffic conditions, that's probably a longer drive with a car than from Hahn to Frankfurt.

Glorfindel
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    Given that "London Oxford Airport" is about 100km from London in virtually the other direction, there may be a booby prize of the city with the widest airport name catchment. – origimbo Apr 29 '19 at 19:20
  • Doesn't count. "London Ashford Airport" only refers to the operator, e.g. "Heathrow Airport Holdings". – gparyani Apr 29 '19 at 20:21
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    @gparyani given that “London Ashford Airport Ltd” is a subsidiary company which appears neither to have nor to have ever had any purpose other than running this single airport - which is closer to Calais than it is to London - I think you’re being rather generous to suggest that’s a meaningful difference. – Chris H Apr 29 '19 at 20:37
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    @ChrisH I'm not sure. If you go to the airport's website, the logo says "LYDD London Ashford Airport" but the domain is www.lydd-airport.co.uk and the text only ever talks about "Lydd Airport", "Flying into Lydd" and even "fly owners with their pets directly to Lydd Airport [...] rather than to busy London Airports." Even the operator doesn't call the airport "London Ashford". – David Richerby Apr 29 '19 at 21:34
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    @origimbo London would be doing quite well even without Lydd given London Southend Airport around 50 km ENE. I haven't checked a straight-line distance but Google walking directions say it's 100 miles from London Oxford. But Lydd's own website has "London Ashford Airport" in the logo, and more importantly it seems that it's listed by ICAO as "Lydd/London Ashford" (according to plenty of secondary sources). A different ChrisH to the one above – Chris H - UK Apr 30 '19 at 08:57
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    There was also the London Prestwick Airport incident :D – Fahad Sadah May 01 '19 at 12:23
  • I've seen an advert targeted at East ASia before advertising flights to "London Manchester" airport, although to be fair, the airport itself never made that claim. – CMaster Jul 30 '19 at 09:57
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It's a bit of a cheat, but Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) is approximately 150 km from the geographic center of Yellowstone National Park. Of course, Yellowstone National Park is huge; the closest point in the park is "only" about 75 km away as the crow flies, while the farthest point is about 200 km away. The park headquarters are 96 km from BZN.

Similarly, as pointed out by @user71659, Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) is approximately 105 km as the crow flies from Yosemite Village. This is perhaps a bit less of a cheat than the Yellowstone case, since while there is not a town called "Yellowstone" in Yellowstone National Park, there is a town called "Yosemite Village" in Yosemite. (This does stretch the definition of a "city", of course.)

Michael Seifert
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I'm going to nominate Anadyr airport in Russia's far North-East.

Now, it's only 10 km from the town, but it is on a different side of the bay and there are no roads between airport and the town it serves.

DYR

Not a problem in winter, since the bay will freeze and allow driving over. But between seasons, I think it's not uncommon when you can't reach airport from town or vice versa for days or weeks, since the weather is brutal. There is an option to commute to airport with helicopter, which will again depend on weather.

alamar
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    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugolny_Airport – cnst Jul 31 '19 at 18:06
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    You use the ferry in the summer, and the ice road in the winter, but while the ice is forming in the winter and melting in the spring, the helicopter is the only option. You also need special permission to cross the river and enter the town if you are not a resident, and foreigners need another special permission to just go to this airport at all. – Michael Hampton May 07 '20 at 14:37
16

Not going to win, but another that’s over 100km from the city with the same name is Stockholm Skavsta Airport which is 106km by road to the Stockholm city center.

Colin 't Hart
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    Don't forget that Stockholm-Västerås airport is 103 km away and Arlanda 40 km away so the average distance for Stockholm's three airports is 83 km. Must be some kind of record too (if you include Bromma - that only offers domestic flights - that number is reduced to 65 km). – d-b May 01 '19 at 10:23
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    I never thought of it being that far. At least there's a very stable bus shuttle service. – Ludwik May 01 '19 at 10:57
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    The express train is more expensive than the bus (but cheaper than a taxi) and cuts the trip down to 15 or 20 minutes or something. Swedes complain that Arlanda is so far away but honestly, with that express train it hardly seems very far, and I'd take that over a similar trip to almost any airport in the US. – L0j1k May 01 '19 at 11:32
  • @L0j1k thing with Arlanda is that it's techically part of Stockholm's transport area, so you can go there with your yearly ticket, but it's excruciatingly long, and you have to take a train and then a bus, while the express's return ticket is 30 or 40$. Sure if you come once in Stockholm it's okay, but if you live there and take the plane reasonably often, it becomes expensive quite fast – Nico May 01 '19 at 13:58
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    Stockholm Bromma actually has several international flights, so it should be counted too.. – SAS May 02 '19 at 10:35
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Not going to win, but the Lhasa Gonggar Airport (LXA) is 97km away from downtown Lhasa. Nevertheless, it is going to win in one aspect: it is the only civilian airport serving Lhasa, making Lhasa the most distant city to any airport among all the cities that have been mentioned.

A new airport is under construction in Lhasa to allow easier access to the city center...and the new airport is 70 km away from downtown Lhasa. The main problem here is that Tibet is too mountainous and it is hard to find a large enough expanse of flat land suitable for an airport.

xuq01
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    Is Gonggar airport land even suitable for an airport? There are no go-rounds, once you get close you are committed to landing no matter what. Pilots also need to be specially trained on the approach, you weave through the mountains and don't see the runway until you're pretty darn close. – Loren Pechtel Sep 14 '21 at 03:52
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    I guess not, but at least it's a flat patch of land which is so rare! – xuq01 Sep 14 '21 at 10:02
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The distance

According to Google Maps, the distance from Bangkok to U-Tapao is upward of 170 kilometres by road, as shown in the screenshot below. The direct distance, as pointed out in a statement by Eva Air (in the quote below, in bold) is about 140 kilometres. enter image description here

The future

There are plans for U-tapao Rayong-Pattaya Airport to become Bangkok's third airport. According to The Blue Swan Daily:

The Royal Thai Navy, operator of Utapao Rayong-Pattaya International airport, recently unsealed tender bids for the USD9 billion redevelopment of the facility under the Thai Government’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) scheme.

Its summary of the article lists:

Utapao will ultimately take its place as a ‘Bangkok’ airport, but one dedicated to tourists as it serves nearby Pattaya.

The past

It's not completely unprecedented for flights to Bangkok to head to U-Tapao. In 2008, when both of Bangkok's main airports were closed, some airlines chose to direct their flight there. From web.archive.org's capture of the Eva Air website (emphasis is mine):

Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok is still closed, so EVA Air changes flight schedule to Bangkok and Europe. EVA Air temporarily take Utapao Airport for the operation for flights to and from and via Bangkok.

Utapao is located approximately 140 kilometres and south from Bangkok. However, facilities at Utapao are very basic and the airport is heavily congested, we apologise in advance for the inconvenience, but ask for your understanding that the airport at Utapao is originally designed for military purpose.

It wasn't just Eva Air that decided to move it's flights, it has, for some time, been Thailand's main airport. From Wikipedia:

With the temporary closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport and Don Mueang Airport in late November 2008 because they had been occupied by anti-government protestors, U-Tapao became for a time Thailand's main supplementary international gateway. Many airlines arranged special flights to and from U-Tapao to ferry international passengers stranded by the closure of the Suvarnabhumi Airport.

As you can imagine, this caused quite a few problems (from the same Wikipedia link):

As many as 100,000 passengers were stranded in Thailand until early December. Although its runway can accommodate large aircraft, U-Tapao's terminals are not designed to handle more than a few flights a day. Travellers were subject to many hardships, and as the security was not up-to-date, some US-bound flights were diverted to Japan and their passengers required to go through a supplementary security check before continuing.

Community
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JJJ
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  • Do they actually plan to include "Bangkok" in the name of the city though? – JonathanReez May 01 '19 at 18:38
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    @JonathanReez according to the article I cited, it will be referred to as 'Bangkok Airport', but I don't think anything has been officially decided yet. And given the fluidity of things, decisions could easily change. I thought it was interesting enough for an answer though. – JJJ May 01 '19 at 18:42
  • You may not copy the google map here. Better use openstreetmap with proper attribution. – Jonas Stein May 03 '19 at 18:47
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Once upon a time, Penzance (SW England, IATA code PZE, although pretty much just an airstrip) briefly advertised itself as "London Penzance", despite being 306 miles (492km) from London.

I can't find a link, but it was poking fun at the likes of "London Luton" (56km), "London Stansted" (61km), which claim to be alternatives to London City (13km), Heathrow (24km) and Gatwick (45km).

David Richerby
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Ralph Bolton
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In the United States, the Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) is a strong contender. It is located four miles south of Rockford, IL. It is about 90 miles (144 km) from downtown Chicago and about 70 miles (112 km) from ORD. Luckily there is a shuttle from RFD to ORD that runs every 2 hours, which is a trip that takes about 70 minutes.

RFD to Downtown Chicago

While mainly a freight airport servicing Chicago, occasionally unlucky passages do end up there thinking they're within shot of the city. I have heard that sometimes the flights to Las Vegas from RFD are cheaper than from MDW or ORD, however have never confirmed this.

Ari Brodsky
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Chuu
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  • Welcome to the site! As the crow flies its shorter than Paris Vatry so not changing the accepted answer but good answer nonetheless. – JonathanReez Sep 13 '21 at 18:29
8

Not going to win, but Manchester Boston Regional Airport is about 44 mi (71 km) from the center of Boston (approximate straight-line measurement using Google Maps).

Ryanair's "Oslo" airport (TORP Sandefjord) is 87 km (54 mi) from the center of Oslo.

In general, I'd expect Ryanair's destinations list to include lots of good candidate answers to this question.

WBT
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Stewart International Airport has been renamed on Feb 21, 2018 to New York Stewart International Airport. It is 72.9 miles from the center of New York City according to Google Maps.

It comes to mind because it's in my hometown.

Gnumbertester
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This example doesn't really count, but it's amusing.

Avelo Airlines recently announced service to the Northern Colorado Regional Airport (FNL), which was known until a few years ago as the "Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport". No problem so far - the airport really is in Northern Colorado, 8 km from the city center of Loveland and 17 km from downtown Fort Collins.

However, their announcement (archived) included the line: "Loveland’s famed skiing is a short 20-minute drive from FNL." Now, the city of Loveland may be very nice, but it's in the plains, not the mountains - it's flat as a pancake and gets only about 120 cm of snow per year, most of which melts within a few days. There's no skiing to be had there, unless maybe you put on your cross-country skis and take a few laps around one of the city parks the morning after a snowfall.

Avelo's PR folks probably confused it with the Loveland Ski Area, located in the mountains near Loveland Pass - which is 114 km from FNL, and would be a "short 20-minute drive" only if you had some sort of rocket sled.

(The only relationship between the Loveland Ski Area and the City of Loveland is that they are both named after William A. H. Loveland).

Nate Eldredge
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Not going to beat the other answers, but I wanted to throw in Weeze Airport anyhow, as it was supposed to be named "Düsseldorf-Weeze", but a court blocked the name due to the distance of 60km (Wikipedia claims 83km, the distance on road) from Düsseldorf.

Ryanair still calls it Dusseldorf-Weeze, however - I almost fell for it some time ago.

Henrik Ilgen
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Another one: Åre Östersund Airport on Frösön, near Östersund.

Initially opened as an air force base in 1926, regular civil aviation commenced there in 1958. It had the name "Frösö flygplats" (Frösö Airport) but was changed in 2006 to "Åre Östersund flygplats" purely as a marketing decision to attract more people to the ski resorts in the Åre area.

By road, it is only 11km from the center of Östersund but over 87km to the center of Åre...

Colin 't Hart
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There's an airport in the german city of Memmingen that is often referred to as "Munich West". The issue is that it is just 120km away from Munich.

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