Airport Guides

MTY is Monterrey’s commercial gateway — the third-busiest airport in Mexico and the headquarters hub of VivaAerobus (the Mexican ultra-low-cost carrier, ~54% of route share at MTY). The airport operates three terminals (A, B, Regional/C) with separate operators of OMA (Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte). Volaris and Aeroméxico are also major operators; Magnicharters and Aerus also base aircraft here. Mexico replaced the paper FMM (Forma Migratoria Múltiple) with the FMM Digital…

OAX sits in the village of Xoxocotlán (pronounced “shoh-shoh-COAT-lan”) — 9 km south of central Oaxaca, just below the archaeological mountaintop of Monte Albán. Smaller than the Mexico City and Cancun airports, dominated by domestic Mexican carriers (Aeroméxico, Volaris, VivaAerobus) plus selected US routes from Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles. Critical fact: Uber and DiDi are effectively banned in Oaxaca state — including the airport. The airport-operated colectivo (shared van) is…

XIY is the gateway to Xi’an — China’s ancient imperial capital and the home of the Terracotta Army. 48.5 million passengers in 2025, one of mainland China’s busiest airports. Terminal 5 opened on 20 February 2025 as the marquee piece of the Phase III expansion: 700,000 m², “main hall + six corridors” layout, designed to handle 50 million additional annual passengers. China Eastern Airlines now operates primarily from T5. The 240-hour…

TBS sits 17 km south-east of Tbilisi at the foot of the Caucasus — Georgia’s busiest international airport, ~57 flights per day across 58 destinations and 40 airlines. Georgian Airways is the flag carrier and biggest operator (~16% of routes); Turkish Airlines and flydubai are the major foreign carriers; Wizz Air has limited TBS service (Wizz Air’s Georgia base is actually Kutaisi KUT, 220 km west — the budget gateway…

Glasgow Airport sits 8 miles west of Glasgow city centre — Scotland’s second-busiest airport (8.06 million passengers in 2024) after Edinburgh, and the UK’s ninth-busiest. Loganair is headquartered here with a maintenance hangar; easyJet, Jet2.com, TUI Airways and British Airways all operate substantial schedules. United Airlines returns to Glasgow with nonstop EWR service in summer 2026 — the first direct US link since 2019 — as part of a four-airline…

FNC sits 18 km east of Funchal on Madeira’s southern coast, on a runway extended in 2000 by a 1,000-metre concrete platform built on 180 columns over the Atlantic — one of the more dramatic airport approaches in Europe. Renamed Cristiano Ronaldo Madeira International in 2017 after the Funchal-born footballer. The airport is a focus city for TAP Air Portugal; easyJet is the largest operator by frequency (~78 weekly departures),…

ORD is the United States’ largest dual-hub airport — United Airlines’ flagship global hub at Terminal 1 + the American Airlines hub at Terminal 3, with Delta and the international carriers at Terminal 5 — handling ~85 million annual passengers across two huge concourse-bank halves connected by people-movers. The CTA Blue Line runs 24/7 direct from the ORD station beneath Terminals 1-3 to the Loop in 40-45 minutes for $5.

KOA is the Big Island’s main commercial gateway — built on a lava field 7 miles north of Kailua-Kona town, with the iconic open-air tiki-hut terminal: gate areas covered by roofing but no walls, ceiling fans instead of air conditioning, the trade winds doing the climate control. Roughly 1,400 commercial movements a month. Alaska Airlines is the largest carrier here (11 mainland airports connected to KOA, twice as many as…

BNA is Tennessee’s busiest airport — 24.8 million passengers in 2025, 300+ daily departures, 8-10 miles east of downtown Nashville and the gateway to Music City’s Lower Broadway honky tonks, the Grand Ole Opry, and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Southwest Airlines accounts for over 50% of capacity and operates Concourse D exclusively (extended July 2025, +5 gates with the first outdoor airside terrace looking over the Nashville skyline).…

HNL is Hawaii’s gateway — roughly 22 million passengers a year across two terminals on the Honolulu coastal plain, 6 miles west of Waikiki. Hawaiian Airlines is the dominant carrier and HNL is its hub; the airline’s merger with Alaska Airlines completed in 2024 and the two now operate on a single passenger reservation system from 22 April 2025 while keeping both brands. The Skyline rail finally reached the airport…

MCO is Florida’s busiest airport (about 57 million passengers annually) and the 9th-busiest in the United States — the gateway to Walt Disney World (22 miles southwest via I-4), Universal Orlando (9 miles west), and Kennedy Space Center (50 miles east via SR-528). The airport sits roughly 15 miles south of downtown Orlando. MCO is split between the North Terminal Complex (A and B) and Terminal C to the south…

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International sits 11 miles west of downtown New Orleans in Kenner. The current building is the brand-new $1.3 billion terminal that opened on 6 November 2019, replacing the 1959 facility entirely — three concourses (A, B, C) all reachable after a single security checkpoint on Level 2. Southwest is the largest carrier by passenger volume; Delta, United and JetBlue work Concourse C; Southwest and American…

BWI sits between Baltimore and Washington DC — roughly 9 miles south of downtown Baltimore and 30 miles northeast of DC — making it the airport that serves both Mid-Atlantic cities by design. Southwest Airlines accounts for over 70% of BWI’s passenger traffic and operates Concourses A and B exclusively; BWI is one of Southwest’s 13 US operating bases. BWI has a real rail link: MARC Penn Line and Amtrak…

Raleigh-Durham International sits roughly 13 miles northwest of downtown Raleigh and 12 miles southeast of Durham — the airport for North Carolina’s Research Triangle (Raleigh + Durham + Chapel Hill, anchored by NC State, Duke and UNC). Delta Air Lines reclaimed the #1 carrier spot in 2026 with 28% market share, edging American Airlines (26%); Breeze Airways opened a new operating crew base at RDU in March 2026 bringing 200+…

San Diego International (the locals still call it Lindbergh Field) sits 3 miles northwest of downtown San Diego on the north shore of San Diego Bay — closer to the city’s central business district than any other major US airport. The brand-new Terminal 1 Phase 1A opened on 23 September 2025 with 19 new gates and a 13-lane security checkpoint; Phase 1B adds 3 more gates in Spring 2026, with…