WELCOME to no-man’s land.

They are the airports to nowhere; commercial flights ceased long ago and they have been left to fall into ruin, yet we remain intrigued at just what went so “plane” wrong.

Here are the amazing stories behind 15 of the biggest, weirdest and most expensive abandoned airports in the world.

That includes “alien landing strips”, ruined runways and financial disasters.

1. Castellón — Costa Azahar Airport, Spain

What’s Spanish for “white elephant”? Officially declared open in March 2011, no commercial flight has actually departed or landed at Castellón-Costa Azahar Airport. Built at a cost of 150 million euros ($230 million), the enduring feature of this freshly-deceased airport near Valencia is a statue in honour of Carlos Fabra, the local politician who was the driving force behind its construction.

2. Don Quijote Airport, Spain

If you thought $230 million was a gigantic waste of money, how about $1.2 billion? Don Quijote Airport (or Ciudad Real Central, to give it its official name) was conceived in the 1990s as an alternative to Madrid-Barajas Airport. Fifty minutes from Madrid on a high-speed rail connection with Seville, it was Spain’s first private international airport, and Spain’s last — it went bust and closed in April 2012.

3. Berlin Templehof, Germany

Built in 1923, Berlin-Tempelhof closed to passengers in October 2008. Until the construction of the Pentagon, it was the largest building in the world. It played a key role in the Berlin Airlift but over the years it became obsolete. Today ‘Tempelhof Field’ is the largest public park in the city and the airport buildings host events such as raves and fashion shows.

4. Croydon Airport, England

Said to be one of the three iconic pre-WWII airports in Europe, along with Le Bourget in Paris and Templehof in Berlin (see above), Croydon was redolent of the romance of early aviation. Several famous figures, from Amy Johnson and Charles Lindbergh to Winston Churchill, graced its runway, which crossed a road on which traffic had to be stopped by a man waving a red flag. It’s also famous for being the first airport with air traffic control. Today, the old terminal Airport House still stands.

5. Nicosia International Airport, Cyprus

Nicosia International Airport was the most important airport in Cyprus but commercial activity stopped after the Turkish invasion of 1974. Today it is a no-man’s land, a United Nations buffer zone from which both Greeks and Turks are barred.

6. RAF Binbrook, England

The UK has a number of old disused airfields just waiting to be turned into the next ‘regional hub’ or Mayor of London-named mega project mooted as an alternative to Heathrow’s 11th runway. RAF Binbrook, near Brookenby in Lincolnshire was used by bombers during World War II and continued to be used by the Air Force until the 1980s. Its biggest claim to fame is as the set for 1990 flick Memphis Belle.

7. Gaza International Airport, Gaza strip

Also known as Yasser Arafat International Airport, this airport served the Gaza strip. Opened in 1998, 700,000 passengers passed though it a year, but not for long. In December 2001 Israeli forces shelled its radar station and control tower, putting it out of action. A few weeks later, they bulldozed the runway.

8. Stapleton International Airport, US

Stapleton International Airport served Denver, Colorado between 1929 and 1995, when it was replaced by Denver International. In July 1997, a storm caused severe damage to its structure, so it had to get knocked down completely. All that remains today is one old control tower.

9. Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, US

“Welcome to Earth!” This was Will Smith’s greeting to an alien in Independence Day. Scenes from the classic 1996 sci-fi blockbuster were filmed at the Air Station Marine Corps El Toro airfield in Orange County, which looks exactly like the kind of place that an extraterrestrial attack force would use as a rendezvous point on our planet. It closed in 1999 (not because of an alien attack).

10. Galeville, Shawangunk, US

The small military airfield in upstate New York was built during World War Two for use as a military academy. It had two paved runways and for some years operated as a civilian airport. It’s now part of the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge.

11. Johnston Atoll Airport, US

Imagine trying to land a plane here! Johnston Atoll Airport is, as the name suggests, a small atoll in the Pacific Ocean, several hundred miles south of Hawaii. It was a US military base for much of the 20th century but closed in 2005. Built on a small island, it housed 400 men and had an underground hospital. Attacked by Japanese submarines in During World War II, it’s now abandoned and lies in ruins.

12. Montreal-Mirabel International Airport, Canada

Opened in 1975, Montreal International Airport in Quebec is now just used by cargo planes. But his beginnings were more ambitious. It was conceived as the largest airport in the world at the time, 10 times as big as Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Expected to receive 50 million passengers a year, this never happened. Despite government intervention, passenger flights ceased in 2004. The Tom Hanks movie Terminal was filmed here, while the track serves as a racing circuit.

13. Floyd Bennett Field, New York, US

Formerly one of New York’s major airports, Floyd Bennett Field is synonymous with the exploits of Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes. Its glory days over, it was replaced by Newark Airport in New Jersey. Although these days is a public park, it retains some of the historic buildings that were part of the airport.

14. Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, US

Robert Mueller Municipal Airport served the city of Austin in Texas from 1928 to 1999 when it was officially closed and replaced by the Austin Bergstrom International Airport. Now built over, the only thing that reminds us that one day there was an airport here is the old control tower.

15. Kai Tak International Airport, Hong Kong

Kai Tak International was Hong Kong’s main airport from 1925 to 1998, when it closed and all traffic moved to the new Hong Kong International Airport, 48 kilometresto the west. Surrounded by mountains and buildings, it was one of the world’s most notorious for takeoffs and landings, especially on the famous track 13, since the aircraft had to make a turn of 90 or even 180 degrees.

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