As any aviation geek can attest to, sometimes the journey can be even more fun than the destination. Over the years there are many flights I’ve been tempted to take simply because they seem “cool,” for a variety of reasons.
Anyway, in this post I’d like to share what I consider to be the coolest avgeek flights out there. I’d love to hear what other avgeek flights OMAAT readers find interesting as well. In no particular order…
In this post:
The United Airlines island hopper
While you could fly nonstop from Honolulu to Guam in just over seven hours on a 777, what’s the fun in that? Instead you could take a 737 on United’s famous island hopper flight. Yes, it might add seven hours worth of travel time, even though you’re only flying an additional 500 miles or so. But you can stop on five different islands that you’d most likely never have the opportunity to visit.
This flight provides an essential link to all of these islands, which otherwise have very limited air service. And United even brings a mechanic on these flights, in case there are any problems along the way.
The Alaska Airlines milk run
You could fly nonstop from Seattle to Juneau, but what’s the fun in that, when you could instead take Alaska Airlines’ milk run? This flight operates from Seattle to Juneau via Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Petersburg. Some of the flights cover a distance of just 30 miles, and circle around glaciers.
Alaska Airlines operates several different milk run routes, connecting smaller communities in Alaska. For those wondering about the “milk run” name, it refers to how these flights have historically delivered important supplies (including milk) to small communities.
Speaking of Alaska Airlines flights, I also love the carrier’s flight to Adak Island, which is about as far west as you can get in the state of Alaska by air. How cool is that?!
The Air France Caribbean island hopper
Air France has two Airbus A320s based in the Caribbean, given France’s connection to the region. These A320s are virtually identical to what you’d find in Europe, as they even feature the typical intra-Europe business class, just consisting of economy with blocked middle seats.
Arguably the coolest route these planes operate is the three segment journey between Miami and Cayenne. This flight operates via Pointe-à-Pitre and Fort-de-France.
Taking the world’s shortest commercial flight
Scottish regional ailrine Loganair operates the world’s shortest commercial flight, between Westray and Papa Westray. The flight is blocked at two minutes, and typically spends about a minute in the air, as it covers a distance of just 1.7 miles. The route is government subsidized, and has been operating continuously since 1967, so it has been around for quite a while.
Taking the world’s longest commercial flight
On the other end of the spectrum, you can take the world’s longest flight, between Singapore and New York. Singapore Airlines operates this route with specially configured A350-900ULRs (with the “ULR” standing for “ultra long range”). With a block time of over 18 hours, and a distance of nearly 9,600 miles, this is a really, really long flight.
On the plus side, everyone on this flight should be reasonably comfortable, given that the plane exclusively features business class and premium economy. Many of us avgeeks think there’s no such thing as a flight that’s too long, but this marathon flight puts that theory to the test.
Landing in St. Barts (SBH)
Gustaf III Airport is the airport on the popular Caribbean island of St. Barts. The airport is often regarded as one of the most dangerous in the world, given the short length of the runway (just over 2,000 feet), combined with the steep angle at which planes have to descend in order to land.
The airport has service to nearby islands, with one of the most popular routings being to Sint Maarten — that’s just a 20 mile flight, which regularly takes under 10 minutes.
Landing on the world’s shortest commercial runway
Speaking of the Caribbean and short runways, there’s another noteworthy airport just 30 miles from St. Barts. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (SAB) is located on the island of Saba, and has what’s considered to be the world’s shortest runway of any commercial airport, at just over 1,300 feet.
Service to the airport is primarily on Winair from Sint Maarten, using DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprops. Suffice it to say that it’s a pretty exciting approach and departure — with water on both sides, there’s not much margin for error.
Landing on the world’s only beach runway
Not only does Loganair operate the world’s shortest commercial flight, but it also operates the only commercial flight that lands on a beach “runway.” The airline operates a route from Glasgow to Barra, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It’s not every day you get to land on a beach runway, so I’d say that’s pretty remarkable!
Landing in Paro, Bhutan (PBH)
Bhutan is not only an incredible country to visit once you’re on the ground, but it’s also known for having an especially fun airport. Paro Airport is one of the most challenging airports to land at, and pilots who land here need to undergo special training.
Why is it so hard to land at the airport? Well, the airport is surrounded by mountains, and a very specific approach course is needed, and in many cases the runway can only be seen shortly before landing. When I flew Druk Air from Kathmandu to Paro I actually found the flight to be rather anti-climactic, which I guess is a testament to the excellent pilots.
Flying to the Canadian Arctic
This is probably more of a North America bucket list thing, but you can take some really cool flights in Northern Canada. Canadian North flies to destinations all over the Canadian Arctic, and you can even redeem Air Canada Aeroplan points for this.
For most of us, these are just destinations we might fly over on a long haul flight, but being able to land there seems so awesome (especially in summer, when it barely gets dark).
Canadian North even wants to fly to Greenland, which would be oh-so-cool, given what a short flight it would be.
Flying to the world’s northernmost airport (LYR)
Svalbard Airport is the world’s northernmost airport with regularly scheduled flights. There are year-round flights to there from Oslo, and the flight takes roughly three hours.
Svalbard is in the Arctic circle, and in winter there is 24 hours of darkness, while in summer there’s 24 hours of daylight. I visited in 2016, and can’t recommend this trip enough.
Flying to the world’s most remote airport (IPC)
Easter Island’s Mataveri International Airport is considered the world’s most remote airport with regularly scheduled service (the airport has regularly scheduled service to Santiago). This is measured by the distance from another airport, as the airport is roughly 2,300 miles from the closest diversion airport.
Because of how remote the airport is, special procedures have to be followed when flying there. For example, two planes can’t be flying to the airport at the same time without a suitable diversion point. That’s because if for whatever reason one plane blocked the runway, another plane wouldn’t have anywhere to divert to.
Flying to challenging Saint Helena (HLE)
While not quite as remote as Easter Island (in terms of the nearest diversion point), Saint Helena might just be one of the most challenging commercial airports to actually fly to. This British Overseas Territory is located in the South Atlantic Ocean, and can generally be reached once weekly on Airlink from Johannesburg, with a refueling stop in Walvis Bay.
The logistics of this flight are really challenging. The runway in Saint Helena isn’t very long and winds can be strong, so the flight often gets canceled due to weather. Furthermore, given the lack of diversion points, enough fuel needs to be loaded so that the plane can return to the continent, in case a landing is no longer possible.
Drinking & showering on an Emirates A380
All the other flights on this list aren’t at all about the inflight experience, but rather are about the routes as such. I think one exception has to be made, and that’s for the Emirates Airbus A380. These planes are among the coolest in the sky, and two features in particular stand out — the A380 first class showers and the A380 business class bar.
If you’ve never showered before on a plane, it really is even cooler than it sounds. At this point I’ve had the privilege of showering on an Emirates A380 more times than I can count, and the thought of it still makes me giddy. While the Etihad Airbus A380 also has a shower and is a generally gorgeous jet, the shower experience just isn’t to the same level.
As far as the bar goes, what’s not to love about having your favorite cocktail while standing at a bar seven miles above the earth’s surface, while flying 500 miles per hour?
Bottom line
There are all kinds of awesome flights out there for aviation geeks. From “hopper” flights with many stops, to very long and very short flights, to flying to the northernmost and most remote airports, the options are endless.
In all honesty, as I created this list I realized that there are endless cool options out there. In addition to the above, several other flights stand out, including Air Saint Pierre’s flight to Paris, Qantas’ Antarctica “flightseeing” itineraries, Air Greenland’s flight to Copenhagen, crossing the Atlantic on an all-business class La Compagnie A321neo, or taking any fifth freedom flight.
What are your favorite aviation geek flights?
Having landed at Lukla, St Barts, and Madeira airport, nothing compares to flying from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas. Short flight but insanely windy and Latam pilots had to get gas at Punta Arenas in order to fly to Santiago. Had to go around several times and miraculously we landed safely… with fire trucks lined up next to runway in case wind sheer push the plane down onto runway. While the plane got additional gas,...
Having landed at Lukla, St Barts, and Madeira airport, nothing compares to flying from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas. Short flight but insanely windy and Latam pilots had to get gas at Punta Arenas in order to fly to Santiago. Had to go around several times and miraculously we landed safely… with fire trucks lined up next to runway in case wind sheer push the plane down onto runway. While the plane got additional gas, the airplane shook violently nonstop due to high wind. Needless to say, I would never ever go back to Punta Arenas again via an airplane.
My one would be the longest flight being the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350 from Singapore (SIN) to New York (JFK).
One from Australia: Perth - Christmas Island - Cocos Island - Perth with Virgin Australia
Forgot to add Wolf Fang’s blue ice runway on Queen Maud Land in Antarctica
The Air France flight now also operates from Belem in Brazil to Cayenne.
Hey Ben! The Regional Express (Rex) milk run from Brisbane to Mt.Isa is a great days flying in Australia’s Outback too, with 7 stops along the way.
Regarding IPC, what are the special procedures with two aircraft enroute there? On some days LATAM has 2 flights within 1-2 hours, I boarded my departure while the second flight was landing
You'll notice they're usually scheduled 2.5 hours apart. That's done to ensure flight 1 of the day will have landed and cleared the runway before flight 2 reaches its ETP (equal time point), which is roughly 2.5 hours flying time. That ETP would more or less be considered the point of no return. So if for some reason flight 1 ended up blocking the runway, flight 2 could still turn back to SCL at that point.
My favorite has been from Leh in India. Take off is directly towards the Himalayas. They hold the brakes, rev the engines, and go vertical as quickly as possible. The day I took the flight it was completely full. I have been told that only a few pilots for each airline are certified to fly there. Highly recommended. Leh is also unlike the rest of India. It is a really clean city.
How about landing at Hong Kongs old airport Kai Tak? The buildings were close enough to the plane one could see into the apartments. The airport was closed in 1999. I guess before your time Ben.
You can also make the United Micronesia island hopper even longer if you would like. Also it's a single flight with multiple stops from HNL-GUM, since United operates a mini hub out of Guam, you can continue flying narrow body flights from GUM to Palau and then onto Manilla and mainland Asia. This is what I did when I did the island hopper. I stopped and visited Majuro, Pohnpei, and Palau.
I also think that...
You can also make the United Micronesia island hopper even longer if you would like. Also it's a single flight with multiple stops from HNL-GUM, since United operates a mini hub out of Guam, you can continue flying narrow body flights from GUM to Palau and then onto Manilla and mainland Asia. This is what I did when I did the island hopper. I stopped and visited Majuro, Pohnpei, and Palau.
I also think that Isafjordur, Iceland is an interesting airport to land at. When I flew it on Air Iceland, we descended towards the mountain, and right before it seemed like we would hit the mountain, we did a 180 degree turn to land on the runway in the fjord.
RAR-PPT on Air Rarotonga is a must. Flying two hours across the open pacific on a prop; you start to feel like Amelia Earhart.
I've done Saba, St Barts, the Air France milk run to Martinique and Guadeloupe, the Alaska Airlines milk run through the Inside Passage, and Easter Island, but my favorite special flight has to be ANC-AKP -- the only way into America's most northerly National Park, Gates of the Arctic, which is otherwise accessible only on foot.
The Caribbean has a few other choice runways. Carriacou in the Grenadines has one neighboring an unfenced cow pasture...
I've done Saba, St Barts, the Air France milk run to Martinique and Guadeloupe, the Alaska Airlines milk run through the Inside Passage, and Easter Island, but my favorite special flight has to be ANC-AKP -- the only way into America's most northerly National Park, Gates of the Arctic, which is otherwise accessible only on foot.
The Caribbean has a few other choice runways. Carriacou in the Grenadines has one neighboring an unfenced cow pasture -- pilots do a fly-by to shoo them off the runway if necessary. Terre-de-Haut, just off Guadeloupe, has a runway that's similar to St Barts' -- a hill at one end that requires an abrupt descent, and a short runway that ends in a beach. Montserrat's original Blackburne Airport was covered by a lava flow in the early 2000s -- in 2005 a new runway was carved through a mountain allowing STOL plans to land on the island.
Lukla should be on the list. That map of the Canadian north is fascinating (and expensive I'm sure).
Great article and interesting flights and air fields. I would love to try a flight to Barra one day!
Landing and departing in Saba is magnificent. The landing is cool as the plane hugs the side of the volcano on approach. The take off is amazing - pretty much what one would imagine how taking off from an aircraft carrier might feel (just a wee bit slower), including dipping towards the sea before ascending further (or so it feels like - that is probably not what the plane does).
"I actually found the flight to be rather anti-climactic"
You should've included the link to this video insteadhttps://onemileatatime.com/news/worst-boeing-737-landing/
Barra is not the only beach runway- take a look at Nanwalek, AK (KEB). A curved runway carved out of the tidal flats of Kachemak Bay on the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula. The approaches can be puckering. Multiple daily part 135 flights from Homer.
And don't forget Air Fraser on Fraser Island, Australia. Breathtaking!
https://airfraserisland.com.au/
You're missing the British Govt charter from Brize Norton in England to the Falkland Islands stopping at Ascension Island.
JAC is the only airport located within a US National Park. A not terribly long runway at elevation and prone to crosswinds means weight restrictions for flights and go-rounds are common and pilots apparently need special certification for that route. And the views of the Tetons are stunning.
I’m more partial to the Etihad A380 because of the larger suites… the shower is smaller but you don’t spend that much time in it.
You missed two good ones.. TEX and LUA.. both are super unique to fly into
What about any El-Al flight that has people congregating on it in groups of like 15 or 20? That was a funny flight I had once.
Mrs Doubt and I headed to Paro, Bhutan in April!
You hope they give the undercarriage and everything a good freshwater hosing down after every one of those Barra flights?
Landing in Sint Maarten and Phuket should be fun
My favourite has to be landing on Gibraltar, the deceleration and braking is not something you often experience.
That airport does fascinate me. I’d be curious to see how it compares to Burbank. BUR’s 08 is the typical landing runway and is a smidge shorter. Always feels like a trip to the chiropractor is in order after landing there.
Only one on this list I’ve done is the United Island Hopper, in 2017 with 4 nights in Majuro. It was absolutely worth it, and I’m a little surprised you haven’t done it yet, Ben - although the experience isn’t exactly premium it was a good use of points.
I’d love to go back to Pohnpei (PNI) and Chuuk (TKK) to go diving, although I’d be more likely to do so as an add-on from Japan rather than puddle jumping from HNL.
Ben, I LOVE these last few posts you have made!!! You should have a "post suggestion" place. You should make a post on where the safest place to be on a plane is. Back, front, aisle, window???