Many holidaymakers feel as if the long drive along the airport runway takes forever.

It may feel like the plane never takes off as it bumps along the concrete before the engines fire up and it lifts off the ground.

Although most runways are relatively long, many visitors to an airport on a tiny Greek island may not be aware that this airport has the shortest runway for passenger aircraft in mainland Europe.

The runway on Skiathos is only 1,626 meters long, which is considerably shorter than normal.

For comparison, London Heathrow’s northern runway is approximately 12,801 feet long, Manchester’s is 10,948 feet long and Birmingham’s is 10,013 feet.

Despite its relatively short length, the airport can accommodate aircraft as large as a Boeing 767-200 and receives flights from all over Europe.

These include flights from the UK to most airports across the country and many seasonal flights to the Aegean island.

The island’s terrain is so uneven that land had to be reclaimed from the sea to build the airport, which opened to passenger traffic in 1972.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers now arrive and depart there every year, and by 2023 this number will be more than 552,000 – including more than 192,000 arriving or travelling from the United Kingdom.

Its proximity to a public road, as well as its location and the number of flights, make Skiathos Airport a popular destination for plane spotters, with many people sharing photos of huge planes flying low to land.

Although it is one of the shortest runways in Europe, it is not the shortest runway of any European country.

This honor goes to the Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport on Saba, which is only 400 meters long and belongs to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The catch is that Saba is an island in the Caribbean on the other side of the Atlantic.