What is the oldest airport?
Who Is The Oldest Airport In The World?
It becomes very difficult to ascertain which airport is the oldest in the world or which one started its operations first so, one has to go back in history to the early 20th century. It was in 1903 when the Wright brothers officially made their first successful trial flight over the tourist town of Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. Aviation technology developed during the subsequent decades, decisions that made the first passenger transport and air mail services possible. Major cities by the 1920's and 1930s began to build airports hence trying to address the new field of commercial aviation.
When you regress in history toward aviation's infancy, sources lack clear information about which airfields were originally developed. Historical information that can be gathered from the evidence of archaeology points to evidence that can be traced more than 2000 years back in time suggesting that the earliest airstrips were in existence in such kind of age. But if this work only looks at those airports that are still in use today as either a public or private entity then a few of the contenders for the oldest airport surface.
College Park Airport Est. 1909
This airport is the oldest one in operation today, it is located in College Park, Maryland, USA. Its usage can be traced back to 1909 when Wilbur Wright flew over the area and it was developed into an airfield. The Pilot training flights have been provided by the College Park Airport, in existence since 1911. It is still in operation today as a general aviation airport where pilots own planes. The airport with a rich history of its existence marked more than 100 years in 2022.
As College Park Airport struggles to defend its scripted status as the oldest airport still operational, some other airports also lay undue claims to aviation milestones. For instance, a little further about forty miles to the southeast in Virginia, the Potomac Airfield was established in 1898 as a balloon launching site and predates the first powered-aircraft flights by several years. Another important facility was the Potomac Airfield, which continued to operate, later providing services for seaplanes, and finally ceased operations in 1962. While this is true, it did not stay an airport as long as College Park, which has a rich history of aviation.
Bremen airport is a relatively small airport, and it is estimated to be known as Bremen Airport. 1913
Across the Atlantic Ocean in Germany, Bremen commissioned an airfield in the year 1913. Primarily serving as a training ground and proving grounds for early Bremen airships, Flughafen Bremen was also assisting with airmail delivery by 1925. It has expanded and evolved from a small terminal in the early 1900s into a significant modern regional airport in the 21st century. Providing passenger services, cargo and mail services, and business and general aviation, Flughafen Bremen boasts of the longest and uninterrupted airport history of over a hundred years.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is estimated that: 1916
One of the earliest airports in Europe is Schiphol which is located near Amsterdam, and it started in 1916. Originally it was an operational air base for military aircraft and by 1920 it was starting to accommodate civil aviation. KLM Airlines, one of the oldest airline companies in the world that was founded in 1919, began offering flight services at Schiphol in the early 1920s. Operations grew during the 1920s and into a full passenger terminal by 1927 and a new control tower by 1935. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol was initially geared for heavy air bombardment during World War II but afterward developed into a major worldwide airport. It is among the ten most heavily trafficked airports globally today and incorporates features of its initial construction with enormous contemporary verticals.
Schiphol Airport was founded in 1916 and this airport is expecting to celebrate its centennial in 2026, but in fact, this airport has been equipped with a century of aviation tradition. As with other airfields, there may have been balloon or glider activity before the airport was established, however, Schiphol can easily be put into the category as one of the oldest true airports which remained fully functional starting from the earliest days of aviation through to the jet age.
Other Notable Mentions for Oldest Airports
Other airfields across the United States and Europe have historical significance apart from the four potential sites of the future hub now described. For instance, the home of Brooks Field in San Antonio, Texas was established in 1917 as one of the earliest military flight training camps in the United States. Currently, it is functioning within the territory of San Antonio International Airport; however, it insists on the fact that it has been providing air transportation services non-stop for over a hundred years.
LyonBron Airport in France first began operations around 1915 with the French Air Force as its founder. Converted to civil aviation by 1930 and is still actively used for pilot training and occasional public events. Self-introduction of the LyonBron Airport is quite an interesting note, as it is one of the oldest airports in Europe.
In our context, cultural value can be defined as the consideration of other related and historic airports.
History enthusiasts of aviation like to know which of the first airports survived to the present time. Out of the various airports that have been highlighted in this work, College Park Airport in Maryland appears to be the one with the strongest argument of being the first airport still in operation. Conversely, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Germany's Flughafen Bremen still cherish memories of the earliest flights over one hundred years ago but have continued with innovations to cater to successive generations of flying enthusiasts.
The modern meccas such as the London Heathrow Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, or Chicago O'Hare International Airport will be seen as archaic from the aviation greats if viewed after a hundred years. However, College Park Airport has not changed much and contains the old times as Wilbur Wright who used to teach new pilots to fly. These pilots in the earliest biplanes must be amazed to look at how immensely airports changed the entire world over the century. As for the first-ever airports, it is crucial to highlight them as architectural and historical artifacts of the continually progressing time in airport construction and development.