Kiruna Airport — Kiruna, Sweden

Positioned well north of the Arctic Circle, KRN serves the Swedish mining town of Kiruna, home to the largest underground iron ore mine on the planet. Because that mine has undermined the ground beneath the old town center, much of Kiruna is being physically relocated a few kilometers east, an unusual civic relocation drawing international attention. The airport connects residents and mining personnel to Stockholm and other southern hubs, while increasingly welcoming visitors chasing aurora borealis displays through the dark winter and near-endless summer daylight. Nearby Jukkasjarvi hosts the original Icehotel, rebuilt each winter from river ice, drawing travelers who land at KRN before continuing by road. Reindeer herding by the Sami people remains part of daily life around Kiruna, and flights here occasionally coordinate with the nearby Esrange Space Center, one of Europe's key sites for rocket launches.