If you fly into a large airport and have checked luggage, you already know how humongous those baggage carousels can be. They take up a lot of floor space and have switchbacks/turnarounds, etc.
And of course, it makes sense. If a single plane is carrying a few hundred people, you need a baggage carousel that can handle the luggage of said few hundred people. To say nothing of the fact that some airports will double up, and their carousels may carry the checked bags of 2 or more planes at the same time – also requiring a heavy-duty, oversized baggage carousel.
Tiny baggage claim carousels
But that isn’t the case for every airport out there. There are plenty of small, regional airports with some itty bitty luggage carousels. Take a look at these:
Gov. Carlos Wilson Airport (FEN), Fernando de Noronha, Brazil
Opened in the 1930s, FEN is the easternmost airport of Brazil and serves roughly 9 flights per day. It’s large enough that it offers ATMs and free Wi-Fi access…but small enough where its baggage carousel is…small. Very small.
Hattiesburg Laurel Regional Airport (PIB), Mississippi, USA
PIB, which was built in 1967, is mostly used for general aviation, but is served by one commercial airline – United Airlines (operated by SkyWest Airlines). Not surprisingly, scheduled passenger service is currently subsidized by the federal Essential Air Service (EAS) program.
PIB served just shy of 25,000 passengers in 2023, which averaged less than 70 passengers per day. It’s so small that the airport recommends that passengers “be at the airport no less than 60 minutes before a domestic flight and 90 minutes before an international flight.” That’s how small it is.
So it’s no wonder the baggage carousel is, although functional, kind of… cute. Take a look:
@casey.caputo small but efficient 🤣 #smallairport #hattisburgairport #baggageclaim #airporthumor
Naxos Island National Airport (JNX), Naxos, Greece
Located in the Aegean Sea, on the Greek island of Naxos, JNX opened in 1992. The airport has regular and charter flights (roughly 770 per month) operated by Aegean Air (seasonal), Olympic Air, and Sky Express.
JNX is about to begin a €23.07 million expansion. But before it does, let’s take a look at this teeny tiny baggage “carousel” that you can find there:
@isabellekube Naxos airport baggage claim is just pure iconic #iconic #baggageclaim #naxos #naxosairport #baggage #luggage #airport #domesticflight #islandlife #greekseries #greekislands #cyclades
So tiny they don’t even have a carousel
And then there are the airports that are so small, they don’t even HAVE a baggage carousel. Here’s what they do instead.
Which ones did I miss?
I know there are other teeny tiny airports that have teeny tiny baggage carousels – which ones did I miss?
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