Queenstown Airport landing ranked one of the most exciting in the world

AirNZ Flight 611 arrives at Queenstown Airport. Photo / Marjorie Cook

Every day, tens of thousands of flights take to the skies from sprawling metropolises, tiny rural towns and everywhere in between.

Some flight landings have more beautiful views or nail-biting thrills than others and in Aotearoa, Queenstown’s snow-capped mountains and stunning lake make it one of the more breathtaking places to land.

According to one analysis, it’s also one of the most exciting in the world.

Queenstown is the third most exciting plane landing to watch in the world, according to a recent study.

The study first created a ‘seed list’ of airports mentioned by reputable news media, then ranked them according to how many views the most-watched YouTube video for ‘[Airport name] [landing]’ had.

Prime Casino, which produced the study, used this data and the number of Google searches to calculate an ‘Exciting Landing Score’.

Portugal Airport labelled most exciting place to land

Top of the list was Funchal, the capital city of Portugal’s Madeira archipelago. Known for its rugged landscapes, stunning coastal views and exposure to fierce crosswinds, landing in this city is a complicated task that requires special training and certification.

This may explain the near-perfect Exciting Landing Score of 9.55, as Funchal Airport Landing has been searched 79,340 times and videos of the landing have been viewed 35 million times.

London’s Heathrow ranked second

London Heathrow was in second place with a score of 8.79. Located in the UK capital, the landing is popular amongst passengers as it often provides a unique view of iconic structures such as the River Thames or London Eye. The airport’s popularity also requires considerable skill from pilots as they navigate a busy airway.

Landings at this airport have been searched 47,890 times and videos have racked up 5.9 million YouTube views.

Queenstown places third

In close third, Queenstown had a score of 8.64, thanks to the view of the Southern Alps, the Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu combined with the relatively short runway that makes it a challenging landing for pilots and thrilling for viewers.

The most-viewed YouTube video when one searches ‘Queenstown Airport landing’ is a clip titled “this is why we fly ...”, uploaded by a user named MrGoodViews Pilot. The 4-minute video, set to Coldplay’s Paradise, has been viewed more than 6.4 million times and shows the front window of an aircraft as it approaches and lands on the runway in Queenstown.

The most-viewed airport on YouTube was Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro airport, which placed eighth in the ranking and has amassed 47 million views.

The rest of the top 10 list included airports in Hong Kong, New York, Nice, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Orlando.