Coober Pedy Airport — Coober Pedy, Australia

Sitting beside the Stuart Highway roughly midway between Adelaide and Alice Springs, CPD serves an opal-mining town so thoroughly shaped by desert heat that a large share of its population lives underground in excavated dugout homes rather than conventional surface houses. Coober Pedy has supplied a substantial portion of the world's opal for generations, and the surrounding lunar-like terrain, scarred by countless mine shafts and spoil heaps, has repeatedly attracted film crews shooting post-apocalyptic and otherworldly scenes for productions ranging from Mad Max sequels to other genre films. The airport's runway sits on the same stark red terrain as the town itself, handling regional flights, mining charters, and a tourist trade drawn by the novelty of underground living alongside the nearby Breakaways conservation area's eroded mesa landscape.