The World's Largest Airport Has Its Own Mosque And One Of The Shortest Flights On Earth

Saudi Arabia's King Fahd International Airport captures the title of "World's Largest" on a nerdy technicality. It's the property, which encompasses 300 square miles, is what qualifies King Fahd as the 'biggest' airport, even though the terminal building only covers a fraction of that space, at 3,520 square feet. The world's largest airport terminal, an architectural masterpiece with a unique layout, on the other hand, encompasses a massive 7.5 million square feet. The modern, commercial airport was adapted from its previous life as a US airbase. During the Gulf War, the airport's size expanded to house massive fighter planes; today, it serves 10 million annual passengers, making it only the third-busiest airport in the Kingdom.

That doesn't mean the King Fahd Airport terminal is not impressive, though. The airport's property features a mosque with a 2,000-person capacity and a residential apartment complex for 3,000 people. And as if residential housing didn't qualify as one of the most bizarre attractions in airports across the world, the airport also contains a greenhouse to grow its own landscaping, protecting it from the hot desert sun.

The airport's shortest flight — one of the shortest in the world — spans the 47 miles from King Fahd International to Bahrain International, the airport of a small island nation in the Persian Gulf. For some added irony, the Saudi airport's massive area is larger than the size of the island of Bahrain itself. If you don't mind taking a flight that's an entire hour, you can also make it to a private and luxurious beachfront escape on the coast of the Persian Gulf for an exotic adventure.

Located 19 miles north of the city of Dammam on the edge of the Persian Gulf, the airport serves 65 destinations in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent through Saudi Arabian Airlines, Flynas, Flyadeal, Air India Express, and Aegean Airlines. The busiest routes served domestically are to Jeddah and Riyadh. Internationally, many weekly flights to Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Dubai, Cairo, and Bahrain occupy many of the airport's gates. Besides the main passenger terminal's 15 gates, the complex also includes a terminal exclusively for Saudi Aramco employees, and a Royal Terminal for the Saudi royal family and government officials, which utilizes more than 176,000 square feet.