Abandoned Beauty: Edition Airports
Sometimes it amazes me how we (people in general) get so overly excited about a project. Pour excessive funds into its realisation and then… then something goes utterly wrong and we pull back. Whether it’s easier to turn your back on your mistakes or it simply costs less than to “fix” them, I’ll let you, my dear reader, be the judge of that. Fact is, today I would like to share a few amazing stories with you. Stories about magnificent constructions, once buzzing with life, now abandoned. Yet, even when covered in dirt and debris, inhabited only by reptiles, rodents and the occasional pigeon, they still mesmerise the visitors and demand our awe. This is my abandoned beauty collection - edition airports. Fascinating, monumental buildings left to the mercy of nature.
Left In the Sands: Gaza International Airport
It may be hard to imagine this now, but from 1998 till 2001, over 700,000 passengers passed through the amazing Arab-style airport of Gaza. The incredible construction was also known as Yasser Arafat International Airport. However, come December 2001, the Israeli forces destroyed its radar station and even the control tower, making it non-functional. Not long afterwards, the runway was bulldozed away. And that was the end of the era of the thriving Gaza International Airport. Today, it’s almost engulfed by the desert.
Lost at Sea: Johnston Atoll Airport, USA
As you can guess by the name, Johnston Atoll is a small atoll, nested in the Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaii. Prior to the World War II, it housed a small US military base with an underground hospital and an airport. With population of 400 men, the base functioned perfectly. In WWII, it was even attacked by Japanese submarines. Since 2005 the pettite airport, nested below the tropical palm trees lies abandoned and forgotten.
Chasing Pipe Dreams: Castellón - Costa Azahar Airport, Spain
When I first head of this project, my initial thought was: “How do you say "white whale”? Well, we can’t really say that creating an ambitious project worth a total of 150 million Euro (roughly 230 million AUD) didn’t get finished as well, it was ready come March 2011. However, since officially declared open that month, no commercial flight has taken off or landed at the Castellón - Costa Azahar Airport. Having become the laughing stock of the European community, one lonely (and rather ugly) statue is the enduring feature of this recently deceased airport. Honouring (mocking) Carlos Fabra, the local politician whose pipe dream the entire Spanish government chased, is the only remain of a South-European day dream.
This is the sad, sad story of three amazing airports - left to the mercy of nature. As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, cleaning up after a failure is something that happens rarely. Instead, we are more inclined to leave the places abandoned and never turn back. However, in my view this should change, to close a chapter of our history, we all need to clean up our messes - give them a nice exit clean, if you’d like. Just like with ending a lease, if we want to receive our full bond back, we need to leave everything in the old place spick and span. The same method applies here, if these abandoned airports were to be demolished or the buildings re-purposed, maybe today in their spot there would have been hospitals or hotels, instead of a sad picture…[!