Rize–Artvin Airport — Rize, Turkey

Built largely on land reclaimed from the Black Sea rather than on the steep, mountainous terrain that dominates the surrounding coastline, RZV represents one of Turkey's more ambitious airport engineering projects of recent years, opening to traffic in 2021. The unusual construction method reflects a broader challenge facing this stretch of Turkey's northeastern coast, where the Pontic Mountains rise sharply just inland, leaving little flat ground suitable for a conventional runway. RZV serves both Rize province, famous across Turkey as the heart of the country's tea-growing industry, and neighboring Artvin province, known for dramatic river canyons, alpine lakes, and mountain villages near the border with Georgia. The airport has helped open the region to a growing wave of domestic tourism centered on the Kackar Mountains and the lush, misty landscape that sets Turkey's Black Sea coast apart from its more famous Aegean and Mediterranean beach destinations.