Desierto de Atacama Airport — Copiapo, Chile

Desierto de Atacama Airport, filed under the code CPO, brings visitors into Copiapó, a mining city ringed by some of the driest terrain on Earth in northern Chile's Atacama region. Copper extraction has long anchored the local economy, and the airport handles a steady stream of workers shuttling to and from inland mines. Global attention fell on the area in 2010, when rescue teams and journalists covering the trapped San José miners funneled through this terminal. Flanked by barren hills and rarely troubled by rain, the airfield connects Copiapó to Santiago and other Chilean cities by regular domestic service.