12 wild things that happened in aviation in 2020

This was a heinous year for the aviation industry. Absolutely horrendous, in fact.

But among the gloom there were some lighter, crazier, even hopeful moments that captured our imaginations during the dark times. Here are the wildest.

1. A tiny airport in Alaska became the world’s busiest

Alaska’s Anchorage International lacks the waterfalls and razzmatazz of Singapore Changi or the eight runways of Chicago O’Hare, but in April this unassuming little airport briefly became the busiest airport in the world.

It was down to a combination of global passenger traffic being wiped out by the pandemic and the ferrying of medical supplies contributing to a rise in cargo traffic — which is Anchorage’s specialty area.

2. ‘Flights to nowhere’ became a thing

Would-be travelers got so starved of the pleasures of whizzing above the ground in a pressurized tube…