What is the Lowest Elevation Airport?

An airport’s elevation refers to the highest point in the runway of an airport. The elevation of an airport affects the appropriate take off and landing speed of aircrafts. It is measured at the place’s center. Included in the list of the highest elevation airports in the world are the Qamdo Bangda Airport and the Leadville Lake County Airport. Below are profile and other important information about the lowest elevation airport.

Bar Yehuda Airfield

The title of The Lowest Elevation Airport goes to Bar Yehuda Airfield, located in the southern Judean desert, Israel.  Located just south of the Dead Sea, this airfield situated 1240 ft or 378 m below mean sea level.  Normally an airport is always higher than the sea level, but this one is an exceptional.  For comparison, the shore of the Dead Sea itself is located 1,385 ft or 422 m below sea level.

The airfield is a small regional airport, mainly used as an alternate airport, and for charter and sightseeing flights. It has a single 3,937ft / 1,200 m asphalt runway.  This short runway limiting the airport from accepting jet planes, only small regional airplanes with short field capability can operate from here. A Boeing 737 for example wouldn't be able to operate from this airport.

Other Low Elevation Airports

There are a lot of airport in the world which are situated just few feet above sea level, and some of them are major airports. One of them is Amsterdam Schiphol Airport with 11 feet or 3 meters below sea level. The other low elevation airports are Kansai Internationan Airport in japan with elevation of 17 ft / 5 m above sea level and Princess Juliana International Airport with 13 ft / 4 m above sea level elevation.

The Princess Juliana International Airport is is located in Dutch portion of Saint Martin Island. Despite the low runway of the place, it ranks third in the Eastern Caribbean’s busiest airports. The length of its runway measures 7,707 feet or 2,180 meters. Its elevation measures 13 feet or 4 meters.

The structure is a gateway to Leeward Islands such as Saba, Anguilla, Saint Eustatius and Saint Barthelemy. The place is originally a military airstrip in the 1940s. The modernization of the place happened in 1997. The modernization plan included three phases. The first phase improved the service level in different points as well as upgraded the facilities of the airstrip. The second phase focused on the development of an extensive radar facility. In addition to this, it also focused on the construction of an air traffic control tower. Finally, the third phase extended the terminal building and constructed a taxiway system.

Additional Facts and Other Interesting Details

The apron of the Princess Juliana International Airport has a measurement of 72.5 square meters while the freight handling apron measures 7 square meters. The terminal in the place has four levels and its floor space is 27,000 square meter. For the comfort of passengers, the terminal is fully air-conditioned. It has 42 check-in desks, 11 boarding gates and eight transit desks. Arriving and departing passengers will not have problems because the airport features 10 immigration booths and five emigration booths.

Some of the popular airlines in the airport are Air Canada, Air Transat, Air France, American Airlines, American Eagle, Aserca Airlines and CanJet Airlines. Additionally, Caribbean Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Spirit Airlines also have flights in the place. The popular destinations of the airlines are Fort Lauderdale, Toronto, San Juan, Atlanta and Amsterdam. In addition to these, there are also airlines that have flights to Boston, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Miami, New York, Montreal, Newark, Paris as well as Caracas.