General Juan N. Álvarez International Airport — Acapulco, Mexico

Long before Cancún existed as a resort destination, Acapulco was Mexico's glamorous beach getaway, drawing Hollywood stars and jet-setters to its bay through the mid-20th century, and the airport that opened to serve that boom carries the name of Juan Álvarez, a 19th-century general who briefly served as Mexican president. Set on Mexico's Pacific coast in the state of Guerrero, the airport barely clears sea level at 16 feet and splits operations between two runways serving resort tourist traffic and general aviation. Acapulco's fortunes as a destination faded somewhat from their mid-century peak as cartel violence affected Guerrero state's reputation in later decades, though the bay and its cliff-diving tradition at La Quebrada remain draws for visitors. The airport's traffic today leans more heavily on domestic Mexican tourism than the international jet-set crowd of decades past. Hurricane damage has also periodically disrupted operations here, given the Pacific coast's exposure to tropical storms. Despite the shifts in Acapulco's tourism fortunes, ACA remains the primary air link for one of Mexico's most historically significant beach cities.