Batman Airport (BAL), Turkey
Served by Turkish Airlines, Batman Airport lies in the south-east corner of Turkey. Visitors to Batman could use the city as a launching point for exploring the fascinating Anatolia region, home to a number of ancient historical sites and the more modern Ataturk Dam Lake and watersports centre.
Useless Loop (USL), Australia
Useless Loop is located in the Southern Region of Shark Bay Western Australia. Shark Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which also home to the more famous Monkey Mia. Useless Loop is a closed company town, servicing the Solar Salt Operation Shark Bay Salt which has been in operation since 1968 and whose salt is among the purest in the world. Useless Loop has won awards recent years due its support of programs to protect and relocate Australian endangered mammals including the Burrowing Bettong.
area has a population of fewer than 1,000 people, and a coastline of 1,500 kilometres. The bay is home to thousands of sea cows and dolphins and hundreds of species of birds and reptiles.
Mafia Airport (MFA), Tanzania
Visitors to this airport on the Tanzanian coast would be forgiven for feeling a little uneasy upon arrival. A few hundred kilometres to the west lies the sprawling Selous Game Reserve, home to more elephants, hippos and crocodiles than any other African park.
Ogle Airport (OGL), Guyana
Ogle Airport (IATA: OGL, ICAO: SYGO) (6°48′0″N 58°6′20″W / 6.8°N 58.10556°W / 6.8; -58.10556) is located on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Guyana, 6 miles east of the capital, Georgetown.
In 2003 the airport was a local hub shuttling some 50,000 passengers and 1,800 tons of cargo annually. Construction began that year to expand the facility to an international airport with upgraded facilities for immigration, customs, air traffic control, health and fire service. The lengthened and expanded runway is now in service, and a ceremony to formally open the new airport terminal was held in March, 2007. Full completion of all upgrades is expected in 2008.
Tsili Tsili Airfield (TSI), Papau New Guinea
Tsili Tsili (Tsile-Tsile) Airfield is a former World War II airfield in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The airfield was abandoned after the war and today has almost totally returned to its natural state.
The area was occupied by Allied forces in the middle of June 1943. The field was hastily constructed by the United States Army 871st Airborne Engineers. All supplies, food, fuel and equipment had to be flown into the base via C-47s from Port Moresby. The first fighters were based at the airfield from the 26 July.
Puka Puka Airport (PZK), Cook Islands
Puka-Puka was the first of the Tuamotus sighted by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.
Dutch explorers Jacob le Maire and Willem Schouten arrived at Puka-Puka on April 10, 1616 during their Pacific journey. They called this atoll "Honden Island" ("Dog Island").
On 30 July 1947, Thor Heyerdahl and his six-man expedition aboard the raft Kon Tiki made their first sighting of land since departing Callao, Peru when they passed by Puka-Puka.
The islands were devastated by a typhoon in 1996, however, with French assistance, Te One Mahina has been rebuilt.
Puka-Puka Airport was inaugurated in 1979.
Bound to win the approval of TV chef Jamie Oliver, Puka Puka is a tiny, isolated atol in the Cook Islands, 182 km from its closest neighbour, with a population of just 197. The airport is served by Air Tahiti.
Big Trout Lake Airport (YTL), Canada
Big Trout Lake Airport, (IATA: YTL, ICAO: CYTL), is located 0.6 NM (1.1 km; 0.69 mi) southwest of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (formerly known as Big Trout Lake), Ontario, Canada.
Situated on the banks of Big Trout Lake, Big Trout Airport is served by the carrier Wasaya and has links to several other Canadian airports, including Pickle Lake and Sioux Loo.
Gaylord Regional Airport (GLR), USA
Gaylord Regional Airport (IATA: GLR, ICAO: KGLR) is a public airport located 1 mile (2 km) southwest of Gaylord in Otsego County, Michigan, USA.
An old-fashioned name that returned to public consciousness after the 2000 comedy Meet The Parents (pictured), there are three towns called Gaylord in Kansas, Michigan and Minnesota, a Gaylordsville in Connecticut, a Gaylord Restaurant in London and even a chain of Gaylord Hotels.
Phi Phi Island Airport (PHZ), Thailand
The Phi Phi Islands (Thai: หมู่เกาะพีพี) are located in Thailand, between the large island of Phuket and the western Andaman Sea coast of the mainland. Phi Phi Don, the larger and principal of the two Phi Phi islands, is located at 7°44′00″N 98°46′00″E / 7.733333°N 98.766667°E / 7.733333; 98.766667. Both Phi Phi Don, and Phi Phi Leh, the smaller, are administratively part of Krabi province, most of which is on the mainland, and is located at 8°02′30″N 98°48′39″E / 8.04167°N 98.81083°E / 8.04167; 98.81083.
Ko Phi Phi Don ("ko" (Thai: เกาะ) meaning "island" in the Thai language) is the largest island of the group, and is the only island with permanent inhabitants, although the beaches of the second largest island, Ko Phi Phi Lee (or "Ko Phi Phi Leh"), are visited by many people as well. There are no accommodation facilities on this island, but it is just a short boat ride from Ko Phi Phi Don. The rest of the islands in the group, including Bida Nok, Bida Noi, and Bamboo Island, are not much more than large limestone rocks jutting out of the sea.
Phi Phi Don was initially populated by Muslim fishermen during the late 1940s, and later became a coconut plantation. The Thai population of Phi Phi Don remains more than 80% Muslim. The actual population however, if counting laborers, especially from the north-east, from the mainland is much more Buddhist these days.
Ko Phi Phi Leh was the backdrop for the 2000 movie The Beach. Phi Phi Leh also houses the 'Viking Cave', from which there is a thriving bird's nest soup industry. There was criticism during filming of 'The Beach' that the permission granted to the film company to physically alter the environment inside Phi Phi Islands National Park was illegal. The controversy cooled down however, when it was discovered that the producers had done such a decent job of restoring the place that it finally looked better than it had done before.
The Phi Phi Islands were also the setting for the hide-out of Scaramanga in the James Bond Film "The Man with the Golden Gun."
Following the release of The Beach, tourism on Phi Phi Don increased dramatically, and with it the population of the island. Many buildings were constructed without planning permission.
Ko Phi Phi was devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, when nearly all of the island's infrastructure was wiped out. Redevelopment has, however, been swift, and services like electricity, water, Internet access and ATMs are up and running again, but waste handling has been slower to come back online.
Asbestos Hill Airport (YAF), Canada
Another obscure Canadian destination, Asbestos lies in Quebec, a region renowned for its stunning scenery and proud French heritage.
Red Devil Airport (RDR), USA
Red Devil Airport (IATA: RDV, FAA LID: RDV) is a public use airport located one nautical mile (1.85 km) northwest of the central business district of Red Devil, in Bethel Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska.
Served by Hageland Aviation Services, Red Devil Airport sits in the heart of Alaska hundreds of miles from anything of real interest. Not for casual visitors.
Brest Bretagne Airport
Brest Bretagne Airport (French: Aéroport de Brest Bretagne) (IATA: BES, ICAO: LFRB), formerly known as Brest Guipavas Airport, is an airport serving the French city of Brest. It is located in the commune of Guipavas and 10.2km (6.4 miles) northeast of Brest, within the département of Finistère.
Though the main operator is Air France (and subsidiaries Brit Air and Regional), serving for the most part Paris and Lyon, other scheduled services are offered to the UK, noticeably by Flybe. The aggressive efforts the Chamber of Commerce conducted allowed the airport to grow dramatically over the past decade thanks to charter airlines,
The Breton city is one of countless amusingly-named destinations in France, including Condom, Anus and - our favourite - Corps-Nuds, which translates literally as "naked bodies". Chortle, chortle
Eek Airport
Eek Airport (IATA: EEK, ICAO: PAEE, FAA LID: EEK) is a state-owned public-use airport serving the city of Eek in the Bethel Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska.
As per Federal Aviation Administration records, this airport had 3,759 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2007, an increase of 16% from the 3,241 enplanements in 2006
Not one for nervous fliers, Eek, also found in deepest, darkest Alaska, is home to around 280 Americans. The town has recently been provided with Internet access.
Monkey Mia airport
A popular tourist resort located in Australia's Shark Bay Marine Park, the large number of visitors to Monkey Mia has drawn criticism from environmental groups who fear that the region's dolphin population is under threat.
Monkey Mia is a popular tourist resort located about 800 km north of Perth, Western Australia. The resort is 25 km northeast of the town of Denham in the Shark Bay Marine Park and World Heritage Site.
The main attraction is the daily feeding of the bottlenose Dolphins that have been coming close to shore for more than forty years. Rangers from the Department of Environment and Conservation carefully supervise the process.
Deadhorse Airport
Deadhorse Airport (IATA: SCC, ICAO: PASC, FAA LID: SCC) is a public airport located in Deadhorse on the North Slope of Alaska. It can be accessed from Fairbanks via the Elliott and Dalton highways. It is near Prudhoe Bay and is sometimes also called Prudhoe Airport.
Deadhorse Airport covers 6,506 acres (2,633 ha) and has one 6,500 x 150 ft. (1,981 x 46 m) paved runway (4/22).
For the 12-month period ending August 22, 2008, the airport had 19,710 aircraft operations, averaging of 54 per day: 54% general aviation, 28% air taxi, 18% scheduled commercial and 1% military.
A rather apt moniker as we approach the end of our selection, Deadhorse is yet another Alaskan outpost, visited primarily by oil workers. The area is also occasionally on the itineraries of intrepid tourists, however, eager to spot caribou, grizzlies, polar bears and arctic foxes.
IATA Airport Codes
An IATA airport code, also known an IATA location identifier, IATA station code or simply a location identifier, is a three-letter code designating many airports around the world, defined by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The characters prominently displayed on baggage tags attached at airport check-in desks are an example of a way these codes are used.
The assignment of these codes is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by IATA headquarters in Montreal. The codes are published biannually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory . Most countries use ICAO codes, not IATA codes in their official aeronautical publications.
IATA also provides codes for railway stations and for airport handling entities. A list of airports sorted by IATA code is available. A list of railway stations codeshared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak, SNCF French Rail, Deutsche Bahn is available. There is also a separate List of Amtrak station codes, three-character codes used by Amtrak for its railway stations in the United States and Canada.
Finally, some immature fun with IATA Airport Codes, which include BUM (Butler Airport, USA), PEE (Perm Airport, Russia), POO (Pocos De Caldas Airport, Brazil) and SEX (Sembach Airport, Germany).