Abadan Ayatollah Jami International Airport — Abadan, Iran

Abadan sits at the head of the Persian Gulf in Iran's Khuzestan Province, a city whose name was long synonymous with one of the largest oil refineries in the world before decades of war and sanctions reshaped its fortunes. The airport serving this historic refinery city runs two runways barely 10 feet above sea level — flat delta terrain where the Shatt al-Arab waterway meets the Gulf. Abadan suffered heavy damage during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s given its proximity to the Iraqi border, and much of the city's infrastructure, including its airport, was rebuilt in the decades since fighting ended. Khuzestan Province remains the heart of Iran's oil and petrochemical industry, and the airport handles a steady flow of workers and equipment tied to that sector alongside regular passenger service to Tehran. The region's ethnic Arab population and its distinct dialect and culture set Abadan apart from much of the rest of Iran. For an area defined for over a century by petroleum, ABD remains a working airport tied closely to the industry that built the city.