List of people who have lived in airports
List of people who have lived in an airport for more than one week
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of people notable for living for periods of more than a week in airports. The reasons are usually protesting, asylum seeking or having difficulty with visas and passports.
List of residents
This is a list of notable people who have been living in airports around the world.
| Name | Profile | Original nationality | Location | Period | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khasan Aman Abdo, Gulistan Issa Shakho, and four children | Syrian | Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Russia[1] | 10 September 2015 – 20 November 2015[2] | 71 days | |
| Family of Kurdish refugees fleeing the Iraqi Civil War who intended to seek asylum in Russia. After being initially denied entry into the country, they remained at the airport.[2][1]
The family was moved to a facility for temporary accommodation while they awaited further processing of their asylum application.[2][needs update] | |||||
| Mohammed Al Bahish | Iraqi-Palestinian | Almaty International Airport, Almaty, Kazakhstan[3] | March 20 – August 17, 2013 | 150 days | |
| In Kazakhstan, while registering intention to marry, Al Bahish's refugee travel documents went missing, and his Kazakh and Emirati visas expired. Later he flew to Turkey in the hope of renewing his Kazakh visa, but was turned back at the border. Subsequently, he was flown back and forth four times and refused entry by either country.
He was allowed to go to a UNHRC refugee transit centre in Timișoara, Romania, and later granted asylum in Finland.[4] | |||||
| Hassan Al Kontar | Syrian | Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Sepang, Malaysia[5] | 7 March – 1 October 2018 | 208 days | |
| Al Kontar was deported to Malaysia in 2017 after overstaying in the UAE for 5 years. During his stay, he saved money to buy a plane ticket to Ecuador, but was turned away by Turkish Airlines staff for unexplained reasons. He then attempted to fly to Cambodia after overstaying his Malaysian visa, but was denied entry and deported.
He was briefly detained by Malaysian immigration authorities for two months, until his asylum request was granted by the Canadian government.[6] | |||||
| Arwa Almsrawi | Syrian | Istanbul Airport, Istanbul, Turkey | February 2024 – September 2024 | 240 days (approx. 8 months; exact dates unknown) | |
| Almsrawi was prevented from embarking on a flight to Toronto after landing in Turkey due to US authorities alleging she was on the American No Fly List. The Canadian Government later revoked her refugee status.[7]
She was given temporary Turkish residence.[8] | |||||
| Gary Peter Austin | British | Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Philippines[9] | 19 December 2012 – 11 January 2013[10] | 23 days | |
| Austin missed his flight. He had run out of money to book a new flight.[11]
Donors paid for a ticket back to the United Kingdom.[12] | |||||
| Bahareh Zare Bahari | Iranian | Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila[13] | 17 October – 6 November 2019[14][15] | 20 days | |
| Bahari was detained upon return to the Philippines from a trip to Dubai after Iran sought her via an Interpol Red Notice.[16]
The Philippine justice department recognized Bahari as a refugee on 6 November.[15] | |||||
| Iyad El-Baghdadi |  |
Palestinian | Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia[17] | 13 May – 8 June 2014[17][18] | 26 days |
| El-Baghdadi was deported to Malaysia by the UAE, not wanting to be detained there indefinitely without formal charges. He was then denied entry at the Kuala Lumpur airport because he had no official documents.[18]
The Palestinian Embassy issued him a passport, and officials in Kuala Lumpur admitted him into the country.[18] He then left Malaysia for Norway, applying for political asylum. | |||||
| Feng Zhenghu |  |
Chinese[19] | Narita International Airport, Japan[19] | 9 November 2009 – 3 February 2010[19][20] | 86 days |
| Feng began protesting after being refused re-entry into China.[19]
He was visited by several Chinese diplomats and entered Japan with anticipation of being allowed to re-enter Shanghai by mid-February. This later occurred, although he is now under house-arrest at his Shanghai apartment.[20][21] | |||||
| Déo Hasabumutima | Burundian | Istanbul Airport, Istanbul, Turkey[22] | 16 June 2021 – 7 July 2021[22] | 21 days | |
| On a transit from Niamey, Niger, Hasabumutima was refused boarding on a flight to Toronto, Canada because his Burundian passport was expired, despite possessing a valid Canadian permanent resident card.
He received assistance from the Canadian authorities.[23] | |||||
| Zahra Kamalfar | Iranian | Sheremetyevo International Airport, Russia[24] | May–June 2006 – 15 March 2007[24] | 258–318 days | |
| Kamalfar fled persecution in Iran with her family using falsified documents to seek asylum in Canada via Germany and Russia. The documents were rejected by German authorities and she was returned to Russia.[24]
The Canadian government granted asylum.[24] | |||||
| Ahmed Kannan | Palestinian | Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Sepang, Malaysia[25] | 21 May – 13 July 2013[26] | 53 days | |
| Kannan arrived without a passport because it had been confiscated in Turkey. After having overstayed in May 2013 in Malaysia, he had flown from Kuala Lumpur to Turkey, but without a visa. His passport was seized by Turkish immigration and he was deported back to Kuala Lumpur.
He was released on 13 July 2013, granted a 30-day Malaysian visa on humanitarian grounds.[26] | |||||
| Arlen Khadaa | Kyrgyzstani-Soviet | Manas International Airport, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan[27] | January 19, 2019 – October 8, 2020[28] | 628 days | |
| Khadaa lost Soviet citizenship at the dissolution of the USSR. He was refused a Norwegian residence permit and citizenship and returned to Kyrgyzstan.[29]
He was sent to Norway on 8 October 2020. He is the subject of the 2023 Norwegian documentary film Flyplassmannen (The Airport Man).[30] | |||||
| Denis Luiz de Souza | Brazilian | São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport, Brazil[31] | c. 2000–present[31] | 9659 days (approx. 25–26 years; exact dates unknown) | |
| De Souza had frequent conflicts at home, deciding to take refuge in the airport. He seems to suffer from psychological problems.[31]
He still lives in the airport, but comes out occasionally.[31] | |||||
| Eissa Muhamad | Nigerien | Addis Ababa International Airport[32] | November 2018[32] – August 2019[citation needed] | 300 days (approx.; exact dates unknown) | |
| Muhamad was expelled from Israel after being caught without proper documents. On his way back to Niger, he transited to Addis Ababa. Niger refused to let him in, claiming the temporary travel documents were fake. He got stuck in Addis Ababa, where neither Israel nor Niger would take him back.[32]
He is now living in Senegal.[33] | |||||
| Heinz Müller | German | Viracopos-Campinas International Airport, Brazil | October 16–29, 2009[34] | 13 days | |
| Müller flew to Rio de Janeiro to meet with a woman he met online, who did not show up. He ran out of money and ended up in Campinas.[34]
He was taken to a hospital for a psychological evaluation.[34] | |||||
| Mehran Karimi Nasseri |  |
Iranian[35] | Charles de Gaulle Airport, France[36] | 26 August 1988 – July 2006[35] Mid-September – 12 November 2022[37] |
6518–6548 days (17.84–17.93 years) Up to 60 days on the second stay |
| Originally from Iran, Nasseri was given refugee status by UNHCR and claimed that his documents were stolen in Paris en route to the United Kingdom. He was refused entry and declined new papers due to changing his own name and place of birth. He became homeless again in 2022 and died later that year of a heart attack.[37]
He was hospitalised, put up in a hotel by the Red Cross and then moved to Paris by Emmaus.[36] During his second stay, he died of a heart attack.[37] | |||||
| Hiroshi Nohara | Japanese | Mexico City International Airport, Mexico[38] | 2 September – 28 December 2008[38][39] | 117 days | |
| Nohara declined to give his reasons.[39]
He left with a woman identified as Oyuki.[39] | |||||
| Yvonne Paul | .jpg) |
Dutch | Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Netherlands | 11 October 1967 – 5 January 1968[40] | 86 days |
| Paul previously lived in the USA, and had been deported as a result of expiring immigration documents. She set up a temporary base in Schiphol Airport whilst attempting to get new immigration documents.
After a formal request to vacate was ignored, she was arrested on 5 January 1968.[40] | |||||
| Sanjay Shah (former Kenyan national) | Kenyan | Jomo Kenyatta International Airport | June 2004 – July 2005 | 395 days (approx. 13 months; exact dates unknown) | |
| Shah spent 13 months living in the duty-free section of Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, petitioning for full British citizenship. This was eventually granted on the grounds that he had already given up his former Kenyan citizenship.[41][42][43] | |||||
| Aditya Singh | Indian | O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, United States[44] | 19 October 2020 – 16 January 2021[44] | 89 days | |
| Singh decided not to take his connecting flight to India due to fear of COVID-19.[45]
He was arrested in January 2021, but cleared of charges in late 2021.[44][45] | |||||
| Edward Snowden |  |
American | Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Russia[46] | 23 June – 1 August 2013[47] | 39 days |
| While on a flight to Moscow-Sheremetyevo, authorities revoked Snowden's U.S. passport.
He was granted temporary asylum in Russia.[48] He later received Russian citizenship.[49] | |||||
| Bayram Tepeli | Turkish | Atatürk Airport[50] | 1991–2019[50] | 9862 days (approx. 27 years; exact dates unknown) | |
| Sabiha Gokcen Airport | 2019–present | 1825 days[timeframe?] | |||
| Tepeli ran away from family problems and worked at the airport for a while. Eventually he became sick, and could not work anymore, but decided to keep living at the airport.[50]
The airport closed for commercial passenger travel in 2019, so he had to leave.[50] He now lives in Sabiha Gökçen Airport.[51] | |||||
| Abo Tetsuya | Japanese | Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Russia | 29 May 2015 – 9 August 2015[52] | 72 days | |
| Tetsuya claimed to be a journalist, and that his seeking asylum was politically motivated. He hoped to receive Russian citizenship.
He was denied political asylum in Russia.[52] | |||||
| Wei Jianguo | Chinese | Beijing Capital International Airport[53] | c. 2008 – present[53] | 6737 days (approx. 17–18 years; exact dates unknown) | |
| Wei wanted to smoke and drink without his family bothering him. He also had difficulty finding work.[53]
He still lives in the airport, but comes out occasionally.[53] | |||||
| Lisa Lee Wink | Canadian | Cancún International Airport, Cancún, Mexico | 13 April 2023 – 15 May 2023 | 32 days | |
| Unknown[54]
Wink was deported for aggressive behavior against other passengers.[55] | |||||
| Yan Kefen and Liu Xinglian | Chinese | Taoyuan International Airport, Republic of China | 27 September 2018 – 30 January 2019 | 125 days | |
| Yan and Liu were trying to seek asylum in Taiwan during their transit, but they were refused for entry while their asylum applications were being considered by Taiwanese authorities.[56][57]
They were allowed to enter Taiwan on 30 January 2019.[58] They were finally admitted into Canada in May and July, respectively.[59][60] | |||||
| Edgard Ziebart | German | Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi[61] | 18 March – 12 May 2020[62] | 55 days | |
| Ziebart was prevented from embarking on the last leg of his flight when India imposed restrictions amid the coronavirus crisis. He refused German embassy evacuation flights, fearing prosecution for criminal offences.[62]
He left on a KLM repatriation flight to Amsterdam and was later extradited back to Germany.[62] | |||||
See also
- International zone
- Statelessness
- Lost in Transit, 1993 film
- Flight, 1998 opera
- The Terminal, 2004 film