Most strategically placed airports
 

Of all teh world's airports, which do you consider (ignoring which airlines are based there) are most strategically placed?

How do you define "strategically placed"? On a global basis? Or compared to the site options for the specific city?

Dubai is obviously a key international connection airport.

San Diego is very accessible to/from downtown.

The old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong was very convenient to the city - and scary as h*** during the landing.

AMS, KIX, and ICN seem strategically placed in terms of being able to expand runways etc. out over the water.

in my opinion, how well placed an airport is depends on (1) how accessible or remote it is from the population base it serves, (2) the size of the airport in terms of the level of traffic it can accommodate, (3) the extent to which the airport is somewhere that weather is likely to affect operations, (4) design factors that complicate access or use.

ICN is pretty good in terms of size/expandability, but getting to/from seoul is a pain. SAN could have been great for access to downtown, but the road to/from the airport is always jammed and the trolley that goes near, but not to, the airport doesn't help (and hurts, by closing streets when the trolley goes by). ATL has great metro access, and is beautifully designed to handle traffic, but weather is an issue. same for DCA. LAX has great weather, but is hampered by (1) a metro that goes near, not to, the airport and (2) the fact that it is really 8 different airports sharing 2 runways. KCI is just the worst, being so far from the city, and access is so restricted with needing separate security for each gate.

LHR, CDG, AMS are all at a significant world cross-road, in that you’re able to fly to directly to everywhere in the world really, apart from Australasia. LHR and CDG are also near major world cities.

Strategic in what sense of strategy? It is a hopelessly overused word and therefore usually conveys no real meaning.

huh? car traffic (which includes taxi/Uber/Lyft and off-airport shuttles) at DCA is awful on a good day, and the “Project Journey” construction (slated to wrap up in 2021) is only aggravating the situation ... I’ll reserve judgement on the post-construction configuration until I’ve been there a few times

AUH and DOH for the same reason....~30% of the global population is within 8 hours by air.

Most strategic depends on what one's strategy is. ;)

Closest to everyone in the world on average? Different ways of calculating the world population center. This one puts it in Almatay, Kazakhstan but other methods seem to end up in a similar area of the globe:

CityExtremes - Center of World Population

If you're considering additional factors and various airline strategies, then that could be a different answer...and one that will change over time.

Boston Logan is 10 minutes from downtown by car or a little longer by water ferry.

The old Stapleton Airport in Denver was 10 minutes from downtown.

OK, yeah I should have used better terminology. I was about to board my flight.

I was thinking more in a global location scale - factoring in such things as a good location for a hub, stability of the country, proximity to a good local market, fuel availability, etc. Not so much focused on how it relates to the local city, as I realize there are way to many factors influencing that. even though that might be an interesting breakout thread. But I guess the basic question - if you could give your dream airline a hub, where would it be?

Haneda is in a good spot...it's a short monorail ride from the city center.

Except that the monorail really isn't all that useful as it doesn't stop within walking distance of many hotels that I would consider, unlike the Narita Express train. Yes, one could transfer from the monorail to the subway line, but that's a pain with luggage.

The most “connected” international airports according to Businesstraveller.com are 1 LHR 2 ORD 3 FRA 4 AMS.
That sounds about right - if you’re looking at international direct flight/continents/etc.