Hamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport — Hamburg, Germany

Few commercial airports can claim continuous operation from the same site since before the First World War, but HAM has occupied its Fuhlsbüttel location since 1911, making it one of the oldest airports in the world still functioning where it began. The facility was renamed in 2016 to honor Helmut Schmidt, the pragmatic Hamburg-born chancellor who led West Germany through the 1970s, a tribute the city considered fitting given his lifelong ties to the port city. Hamburg's status as a center of aircraft manufacturing adds another layer to the airport's identity, since Airbus operates a major final-assembly plant at nearby Finkenwerder, meaning aviation runs through the local economy well beyond passenger traffic. Lufthansa Technik also maintains a substantial maintenance and overhaul base on the airport grounds. Scheduled routes lean heavily toward domestic German cities and short-haul European destinations, reflecting Hamburg's business-travel demand.