Historic airports have gotten complicated with all the modernization and expansion flying around. As someone who’s traveled through dozens of airports and always ends up reading the historical plaques instead of checking the departure board, I learned everything there is to know about the airfields that witnessed aviation’s earliest days. Today, I will share it all with you.
Probably should have led with this section, honestly. College Park Airport in Maryland is the oldest continuously operating airport in the world, and it’s been active since 1909. The Wright brothers themselves — Orville and Wilbur — established it as a pilot training location. Let that sink in for a second. An airport set up by the guys who invented powered flight is still open and functioning today. I drove out there a few years ago expecting something modest, and I wasn’t wrong about the size, but the museum on-site blew me away. They’ve got artifacts and photographs that trace the entire evolution of the airport from a dirt strip where military officers learned to fly to a working general aviation field. You can still watch small planes take off from the same ground where the Wrights taught people to fly over a century ago.
Hamburg Airport in Germany opened in 1911, making it one of the oldest airports in the world still in commercial use. What I find fascinating about Hamburg is that it was one of the first airports to actually build a proper terminal with waiting rooms. Before that, airports were basically just fields with maybe a shed. Hamburg said, “No, we’re going to treat passengers like they matter.” I transited through there on a European trip once and spent my layover wandering around looking at old photos on the walls. The contrast between those early wooden structures and the modern glass-and-steel terminal you’re standing in is wild. Over a hundred years of aviation history in one spot.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has one of the more interesting origin stories. It started as a military airbase in 1916 during World War I and transitioned to civilian use in 1920. The Dutch were early adopters of commercial aviation and Schiphol became a major hub pretty quickly. What really gets me about Schiphol is its innovative spirit — they developed early air traffic control systems and were constantly pushing the envelope on airport design. Now it handles tens of millions of passengers a year and it’s one of the busiest airports in Europe. Every time I fly through Schiphol I think about the fact that military biplanes were parked where I’m now buying overpriced coffee and stroopwafels.
Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport, established in 1920, rounds out this list and it’s got a personal touch I really appreciate. It’s named after Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, an absolute legend who made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia in 1928. The guy flew a Fokker Trimotor called the Southern Cross over 7,000 miles of open ocean. That kind of courage is hard to even comprehend. The airport that carries his name has grown into Australia’s busiest, but the history is everywhere if you look for it. There are memorials, exhibits, and even the restored Southern Cross on display nearby.
That’s what makes historic airports endearing to us aviation history lovers. They’re not just transit points — they’re living monuments to the early days of flight. Each one started as a patch of ground where somebody had the audacity to say “planes are going to take off from here.” And more than a hundred years later, they still do. Next time you’re stuck at an airport with a long layover, do yourself a favor and dig into the history of where you’re standing. You might be surprised by what you find.
