Before airports were glass cathedrals with duty-free malls, they were windswept fields where daredevils coaxed wood-and-canvas machines into the air. A handful of those early airfields never closed. They survived two world wars, the jet age, and the era of the mega-hub — and you can still land on some of them today. This is the story of the world's oldest airports, and what "oldest" really means.
The very first airfields
College Park Airport, Maryland (1909). 📍 Map The strongest claimant to the title of world's oldest continuously operated airport. The U.S. Army chose this field so the Wright brothers could teach military officers to fly, and Wilbur Wright himself trained pilots here. More than a century later, it still operates — with a small aviation museum next door honoring its role as the birthplace of military aviation training.
Hamburg Airport, Germany (1911). 📍 Map The oldest commercial airport in the world still operating at its original site. It opened as an airship base before the First World War and transitioned to fixed-wing commercial service as aviation grew. Unlike many early airports that were swallowed by cities or abandoned, Hamburg simply kept evolving on the same ground.
Don Mueang, Bangkok (1914). 📍 Map One of Asia's oldest airports and among the oldest still in commercial use anywhere. It served as Thailand's main international gateway for most of the 20th century before the newer Suvarnabhumi opened — and then, remarkably, it reinvented itself as a major low-cost carrier hub.
The golden age of aviation
Paris Le Bourget (1919). 📍 Map The airport where Charles Lindbergh landed in 1927 after the first solo transatlantic flight, greeted by enormous crowds. Le Bourget was Paris's main airport until Orly took over, and today it hosts the Paris Air Show and one of the world's great air and space museums.
Sydney Airport (1920). 📍 Map Operating continuously on its original Mascot site since 1920, Sydney is among the oldest commercial airports in the world and one of the few centenarians still serving as a major international hub. Its longevity is a testament to early planners who — by luck or foresight — picked a site with room to grow.
Rome Ciampino (1916). 📍 Map Older than most people realize, Ciampino served as Rome's main airport for decades before Fiumicino opened in 1961. Today it handles low-cost and charter traffic, a working relic of aviation's early decades.
Berlin Tempelhof (1923–2008). 📍 Map No longer an airport, but impossible to omit. Its vast curved terminal — once among the largest buildings on Earth — embodied the ambition of the 1930s, and the airfield became legendary during the Berlin Airlift of 1948–49. Closed in 2008, it's now a beloved public park where Berliners cycle and picnic on the old runways.
What does "oldest" actually mean?
The title depends on the definition, which is why several airports can all claim it honestly:
- Oldest continuously operated: College Park (1909) — never closed, though it's a general-aviation field, not a commercial hub.
- Oldest commercial airport still in use: Hamburg (1911) — the strongest claim among airports handling scheduled airline traffic.
- Oldest on its original site: several contenders, since many early airports moved as cities grew around them.
What unites them is survival. The vast majority of early airfields are housing estates, shopping centers, or simply forgotten fields. The survivors adapted — again and again — to aircraft their founders could never have imagined.
More historic airfields worth knowing
Amsterdam Schiphol (1916). 📍 Map Started as a military airbase in the First World War and grew into one of Europe's great hubs — a rare case of a centenarian airport that never stopped expanding. Its single-terminal concept, introduced in later decades, became a model copied worldwide.
Croydon Airport, London (1920–1959). 📍 Map Britain's first international airport and the birthplace of air traffic control as an organized service. Its art-deco terminal still stands, preserved as a visitor center — a time capsule of the era when flying was glamorous and rare.
These airfields share a pattern: they survived because they adapted. Military fields became civilian, tiny strips became hubs, and obsolete terminals became museums. The history of the oldest airports is really the history of aviation learning to grow up.
Visiting aviation history today
You don't need a time machine to touch this history. College Park has its aviation museum. Le Bourget houses France's national air and space museum. Tempelhof's terminal and airfield are open as a park and event space. And at Hamburg, Sydney, and Don Mueang, you can simply book a flight and land on runways that have been in use for over a century — a quiet thrill most passengers never notice.
Frequently asked questions
What is the oldest airport in the world?
College Park Airport in Maryland (1909) is the oldest continuously operating airport. Hamburg Airport (1911) is the oldest commercial airport still operating at its original site.
What happened to London's first airport?
Croydon Airport, London's main airport in the 1920s and 30s, closed in 1959. Its art-deco terminal building survives as a visitor center and offices.
Can you still fly from the oldest airports?
Yes — Hamburg, Sydney, Don Mueang, and Rome Ciampino all handle scheduled commercial flights today. College Park is general aviation only.
Why did so many early airports close?
Cities grew around them, jets needed longer runways, and noise concerns pushed airports outward. The survivors either had room to expand or reinvented themselves for new roles.
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