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| FUN, the tiny airport of Tuvalu. |
Or is it?
I recently heard about a newspackage on TV 2 and read an NRK article about guys collecting airports. Yes, both of them were guys. Oh, on closer inspection it is the same guy. Nevertheless, I don't think any girls out there does the same, or would even think about considering doing anything similar to the same.
Please prove me wrong.
Following both news pieces, I have been contacted by friends asking me how many airports I have been to. And been to, in this case, apparantly means not only having been to it in person on the ground or in the terminal, but also flown to and/or from it.
So, I had to count.
Nils Salthe, the guy in question, has visited 75 airports, 34 of which are in Norway. A couple of additional web searches reveals that Audun Tylden, a late music producer visited his 347th airport in 2007, four years before he died. He allegedly visited a few more, clocking in at approximately 370.
That means that I still have a long way to go. I have just reached 301, given that I actually remember all of them. I have never really counted before.
Have you? And how far behind Audun Tylden are you? Keep in mind that he started the semi unusual hobby with his friend Scott Remborg back in 1969. I assume that he had already been to some airports already, but let us say that he clocked up between 9 and 10 new airports a year. That is a lot, given the time span of almost 40 years.
It is certainly possible to catch up. There are 102,465 commercial flights a day (six-figures for the first time in 2014) travelling to or from the 3,864 commercial airports in the world.
If you want to include private and military airfields, we reach a staggering 41,821, according to IATA. Audun Tylden however only counted commercial airports. So do I. At least until I get my own private jet.
