The Longest Runways in the World, Ranked

The longest active paved airport runways in the world are a tie: Shigatse Peace Airport in Tibet and Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport in Russia, each listed at 16,404 feet (5,000 m). That is just over 3 miles of pavement.

Most top-10 lists still name Qamdo Bamda Airport in Tibet at 18,045 feet (5,500 m). That runway is listed as closed, and the airport’s current one is 14,764 feet (4,500 m), which does not make this top 10.

This ranking uses listed runway length as of November 2026, counting paved runways at airports. Lakebed runways are longer still, and they get their own section below.

Our interactive ranking of airports by longest runway runs to 100 airports with a map. It draws on a different dataset, so its order and figures differ from this list.

1 (tie). Shigatse Peace Airport, China: 16,404 feet

Shigatse sits at 12,408 feet in Tibet, which is the classic reason for a very long runway. Thin air gives a wing less lift, so aircraft need more speed and more distance to get airborne.

It is a dual-use site. Construction began in 1968 and it served only the military until a 2010 expansion, opening to civilian flights on October 30 of that year. For the full calculation behind any runway’s length, see how long a runway needs to be.

1 (tie). Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport, Russia: 16,404 feet

Ulyanovsk matches Shigatse to the foot at an elevation of just 252 feet, so thin air explains nothing here. It was founded in 1983 as a test site, and a very long taxiway connects it to the Aviastar aircraft plant.

Listed widths run from 323 feet to about 345 feet (105 m), and Wikipedia calls it the widest runway in the world. Today it is mainly a cargo airport.

3. Gavião Peixoto, Brazil: 16,296 feet

Embraer opened its plant here in October 2001 for final assembly and testing, and built this 4,967-meter runway for it. Brazilian press and Wikipedia call it the longest runway in the Americas, ahead of Denver by 296 feet.

This entry carries one data conflict. OurAirports lists the same runway at only 9,843 feet, an outlier against the other sources we read, so we kept the widely reported length.

4. Upington Airport, South Africa: 16,076 feet

Upington’s runway was built so a fully loaded Boeing 747 could leave for Europe without stopping. Its elevation of 2,782 feet and extremely hot summers both add to the distance a heavy jet needs.

A February 2026 statement from a local Democratic Alliance councillor said the long runway had been shut for over a month, with reopening expected in September 2026. We could not confirm from the airport operator whether it has reopened.

Travel sites often call Upington a NASA Space Shuttle emergency site. We could not find a NASA document that says so, so treat that one as unconfirmed.

5. Denver International Airport, United States: 16,000 feet

Runway 16R/34L at Denver International is the longest public-use runway in North America, at 16,000 by 200 feet of grooved concrete. It opened in September 2003 and runs 4,000 feet longer than the airport’s other runways.

At 5,434 feet of elevation, that extra length lets a fully laden Airbus A380 take off in hot-and-high conditions. It also leads our list of the longest runways in the US, and it is the best-documented figure on this page.

6. Hamad International Airport, Qatar: 15,912 feet

Hamad’s Runway 16L/34R in Doha is 4,850 meters long and sits just 13 feet above sea level. The airport was promoted before its 2014 opening as having the world’s longest commercial runway at sea level, a claim made in the Qatari press rather than an independent record.

At 13 feet, altitude plays no part in that length. Its second runway is no small strip either, at 4,250 meters (13,944 feet).

7. Madrid-Torrejón, Spain: 15,807 feet

Torrejón is owned by the Spanish Air and Space Force, and its 4,818-meter asphalt runway serves an air base first. Apart from Ulyanovsk, it is the only European entry in this top 10.

8 (tie). Erbil International Airport, Iraq: 15,748 feet

Erbil’s airport opened on July 5, 2005, as a US$550 million replacement beside the old field, whose runway was 2,800 meters. The new concrete runway is 4,800 by 75 meters, at an elevation of just 1,341 feet.

8 (tie). Golmud Airport, China: 15,748 feet

Golmud is the quiet entry on this list. It is a dual-use military and civil airport in Qinghai province at 9,334 feet, where thin air again drives the length.

In 2009 it handled 38,479 passengers and ranked 138th of China’s 166 civil airports. It does not appear on Wikipedia’s list of longest runways, though its own Wikipedia entry and OurAirports both give 4,800 meters.

10. Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, Zimbabwe: 15,502 feet

Harare’s Runway 05/23 is 4,725 meters long at an elevation of 4,887 feet. Kinshasa’s N’djili Airport could follow at 4,700 meters (15,420 feet) on Wikipedia’s list, but OurAirports gives only 13,123 feet, so we left it out.

Why the famous 18,045-foot runway is not No. 1

Qamdo Bamda opened in 1995 at 14,219 feet of elevation, and its 18,045-foot runway really was the record. Guinness World Records still lists it as the longest civil runway, at 5.5 km (3.41 miles), and many articles copy that line.

Wikipedia now shows that runway as closed and replaced by a 14,764-foot one, and OurAirports lists only the shorter runway. We found no official notice dating the change, so the replacement rests on those two references. The record is still real history, just not the current answer.

The runways longer than all of these

If any marked landing surface counts, the winner is Runway 17/35 on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Air Force lists it at 39,097 by 900 feet, about 7.4 miles (11.9 km), and Guinness names Edwards as the longest military runway at 7.41 miles.

It is a painted line on a dry lakebed, not pavement, and the same Air Force page says 2017 imagery showed it nearly faded away. Edwards’ paved Runway 05R/23L is 15,024 feet, with another 9,588 feet of lakebed available at one end.

White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, a former NASA Shuttle training site, has lakebed runways of 35,000 feet (10,668 m). That counts 15,000 usable feet plus 10,000-foot extensions at each end.

Area 51 also comes up in searches. Wikipedia lists a closed paved runway there of roughly 23,000 feet (7,000 m), and flags that length as approximate.

What the list says about why runways get this long

Most runways at large commercial airports run 8,000 to 13,000 feet, so everything here is well beyond normal. The usual explanation is altitude, but only four of these 10 airports sit above 4,800 feet.

The other six sit below 2,800 feet, and their reasons vary: heat, heavy long-haul departures, or flight testing. A runway this long usually tells you what an airport was built to do, not how busy it is. The world’s biggest airports are a different list altogether.