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--- transportation:airports [2026/08/18 03:55] – [Airports] timb
+++ transportation:airports [2026/10/08 00:28] (current) – [Airports] timb
@@ Line 511: / Line 511: @@
 https://simpleflying.com/worlds-largest-airports-in-operation/
+== 7 Commercial Airports With Runways So Long They Were Originally Built To Handle Space Shuttles ==
+Jacob Johnson - Oct 5, 2026, 5:30 AM EDT
+Commercial aviation enthusiasts often marvel at the extreme length of certain runways across the globe, but few realize that some of these massive strips of asphalt share a cosmic lineage. During the multi-decade run of the space shuttle program, NASA established a critical network of emergency backup strips to protect returning orbiter crews.
+Most main landing zones remained restricted to dedicated space agency facilities, but several civilian and joint-use commercial airports were selected for their strategic locations and existing pavement dimensions. To safely land what is effectively an unpowered glider descending from orbit at high speeds without the luxury of a go-around, these locations required exceptional runway lengths and specialized overruns.
+  * 7 Lajes Air Base / Lajes Field - 12,109 Feet (3,691 m)
+  * 6 Zaragoza Airport - 12,109 Feet (3,691 m)
+  * 5 Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility - 15,000-Foot (4,572 m)
+  * 4 Torrejón Air Base - 15,803 feet (4,817 m)
+  * 3 Denver International Airport - 16,000 Feet (4,877 m)
+  * 2 Upington Airport - 16,076-Foot (4,900 m)
+  * 1 Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport - 16,404-Foot (5,000 m)
+https://simpleflying.com/7-commerical-airports-runways-so-long-originally-built-to-handle-space-shuttles/
 ===== DFW - Dallas/Ft Worth, TX USA =====
@@ Line 529: / Line 550: @@
-===== DIA - Chicago, IL USA =====
+===== DIA - Denver, CO USA =====
 == Denver Is the Worst Airport in America—Second Place Isn’t Even Close [Roundup] ==
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 https://viewfromthewing.com/denver-is-the-worst-airport-in-america-second-place-isnt-even-close-roundup/
+==  a new world airport and its baggage ==
+-09-20 - J. B. Crawford
+Aviation came to Denver mainly in the form of mail. Like much of the inland West, the first airfields served a smattering of passenger flights (both expensive and uncomfortable in the 1930s) and a regular schedule of contract mail carriers. Postal Service air mail contracts built many of the nation's major airlines—and its major airports. One of Denver's simple airstrips, Denver Municipal Airport, transformed from a mail stop to a busy airport when Continental Airlines moved its headquarters to Denver 1937, and then again when a modern passenger terminal was completed in 1946. Along the way, it had been renamed for the mayor who oversaw much of its development: Stapleton.
+The Second World War, and then the post-war return, brought both a boom in aviation generally and in Denver specifically. The city's population grew by almost 10,000 a year from 1940 to 1960. During the '60s, Stapleton gained an additional runway and a new terminal as the schedule grew from under forty departures a day to over one hundred. When airline deregulation prompted a total restructuring of the industry, both by consolidation and widespread adoption of a "hub and spoke" model, Denver's central location made it an obvious choice of hub. United, Continental, Western, and Frontier Airlines all made Denver Stapleton a busy node in their growing networks.
+With growing traffic, Stapleton showed its age. The passenger terminals were too small, but moreover, the field had become cramped. The runways were too close to each other for more than one simultaneous approach during instrument conditions, a bottleneck so severe that bad weather in Denver would cause flight delays that cascaded nationwide. The airfield at Stapleton could not be expanded: a combination of terrain, adjacent land in private ownership, and legal disputes with nearby residents and Adams County (where Stapleton was located) effectively precluded any runway additions or extensions. By the '80s, Southwest Airlines was rapidly expanding beyond its native Texas—but service to Denver was blocked by a lack of available gates at Stapleton.
+By fluke of politics, the City of Denver was abruptly committed to construction of a brand-new airport in 1983: mayoral candidate Monte Pascoe had made a New World Airport the core of his platform. As it happened, he came up third in a race of three, but not before goading the other two candidates—including winner Frederico Peña—into signing a written commitment to see the new airport through. In 1984, planning started for the New Denver Airport. 48.3 square miles of Adams County were annexed to Denver and, in 1989, Denver voters approved a referendum in favor of the new airport by a wide margin. Located northeast of Denver on a huge plot of mostly agricultural land, many of us have been there, at least on a layover: Denver International Airport, DIA.
+https://computer.rip/2026-09-20-denver-baggage.html