What is the oldest airport in the world?

Question

Answer by tommorow.

Answer 1

I thought this would be an easy question because I was under the impression 'Airport' was a term coined for Ports that handled Transcontinental Seaplanes.  That's the reason most older International Airports were located on a water front.

Initially Aircraft were flown from grass fields, called Airfields.  Lambert Field in St Louis was one of the first purpose built 'Airports' in 1920, with terminal and Hangers.

Much to my surprise the first known usage of the term "airport" appeared in a newspaper article in 1919, in reference to Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  This was a strip of land that extended into the water.

Comair is right, again, College Park, created by Wilbur Wright in 1909 is considered to the the oldest still operating airport.  It can be debated because it only services General Aviation but that's where terminology comes into play.

I would have expected it to be around the S.E. Saunders boatyard of East Cowes on the Isle of Wight where Saunders and Sopwith formed a consortium to build flying boats in 1913.  

Or, on the River Medway in Rochester, Kent where, Short Brothers', founded in 1908 by Eustace, Oswald and Horace Short, Britain's leading aircraft manufacturer, created their Seaplane Works, in 1915.  Their contribution, the Sunderland, rivaled the Pan Am Clipper.

Answer 2

Sydney (Kingsford Smith) International Airport, or Sydney Airport (IATA: SYD, ICAO: YSSY), is located in the Sydney suburb of Mascot. It is the major airport serving Sydney, and is a major hub for Qantas. Sydney Airport is one of the oldest continually operated airports in the world, [1] and the busiest airport in Australia, handling 31.9 million passengers and 290,346 aircraft movements in 2007[2]. It was the 28th busiest airport in the world in 2003, however, as of 2008 fails to meet the list. The airport is managed by Sydney Airport Corporation Limited (SACL) and the current CEO is Russell Balding.

Situated next to Botany Bay, Kingsford Smith has three runways, colloquially known as the "East-West" and two "North-South" runways. In terms of land area, it is the smallest capital city airport in Australia

Answer 3

College Park Airport in MD

Answer 4

The College Park Airport in Maryland, US, established in 1909 by Wilbur Wright, is generally agreed to be the world's oldest continually operating airfield,  although it serves only general aviation traffic.

Answer 5

Point Cook RAAF base in Australia is the oldest, continually operating military airfield in the world (est 1913), but I guess is not an actual airport, unlike College Park