Best beach and island airport cams
Island airports are built wherever there's a flat strip of land, and that's usually the shoreline. For anyone watching, that means aircraft arriving low over open water, often with a beach in the foreground.
The traffic at these places is light compared with a big hub. You watch them for the setting and for the handful of arrivals that everyone on the beach has been waiting for.
SXM1. Princess Juliana International Airport
🇸🇽 Philipsburg, Sint Maarten
There's nowhere else like it. The runway starts just behind Maho Beach, so every arriving jet crosses the sand at a height that looks wrong the first time you see it. Go for late morning to mid-afternoon island time, when most of the larger jets come in.
Watch the SXM live cam →
FNC2. Madeira Airport (Cristiano Ronaldo)
🇵🇹 Funchal, Portugal
Half the runway stands on concrete pillars over the Atlantic, and the mountains behind it stir up the wind. On a gusty day you can watch aircraft make two or three attempts. On a calm one it's simply a beautiful place to see a landing.
Watch the FNC live cam →
ACE3. Lanzarote Airport
🇪🇸 Arrecife, Spain
Black volcanic rock, white houses and a runway along the beach at Playa Honda. Winter is the time to watch, when flights from Britain, Ireland and Germany arrive one after another.
Watch the ACE live cam →
FUE4. Fuerteventura Airport
🇪🇸 Puerto del Rosario, Spain
Lanzarote's neighbour, drier and windier. The camera shows the same sort of holiday traffic against a sandy, almost desert coast.
Watch the FUE live cam →
OKA5. Naha Airport
🇯🇵 Naha, Okinawa, Japan
Two runways beside the East China Sea, one of them built out into the water. What sets it apart is the mix: holiday jets from Tokyo, small propeller aircraft bound for the outer islands, and Japanese air force fighters taking off between them.
Watch the OKA live cam →
ASJ6. Amami Airport
🇯🇵 Amami, Japan
Small, subtropical and very quiet. A few flights a day land beside bright blue water. Leave it on in the background and look up when you hear an engine.
Watch the ASJ live cam →
NGS7. Nagasaki Airport
🇯🇵 Nagasaki, Japan
The whole airport is an island. Opened in 1975 in the middle of Omura Bay, it was the first airport of its kind, and the camera looks down a runway with water on every side.
Watch the NGS live cam →
WLG8. Wellington International Airport
🇳🇿 Wellington, New Zealand
Sea at both ends of a short runway and a wind that rarely lets up. On rough days this is the stream people share clips from.
Watch the WLG live cam →
BGI9. Grantley Adams International Airport
🇧🇧 Bridgetown, Barbados
Mostly here for the afternoon arrivals from London, when a British Airways or Virgin Atlantic widebody appears among the smaller Caribbean traffic.
Watch the BGI live cam →
One thing to keep in mind with the Caribbean and Canary Island cams: the busy hours follow European and North American departure times, so mornings there are often empty.