Manston Airport (IATA: MSE, ICAO: EGMH) is a closed international airport in the UK. Originally operated as RAF Manston, from 1916, it has also operated as a commercial airport and was known as Kent International Airport and, briefly, London Manston Airport. It has been closed since 2014. It is located in the parish of Minster-in-Thanet and partly adjacent to the village of Manston in the Thanet district of Kent, England, 11 NM (20 km; 13 mi) north-east of Canterbury.

The single runway is located about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the coastline at 178 ft (54 m) above sea level.

It has the 11th-longest civilian runway in the United Kingdom (after Heathrow's two runways, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Stansted, East Midlands, Doncaster, Prestwick and Belfast International), 2,748 m (9,016 ft) in length. When operational, Manston was capable of handling some of the larger long-haul aircraft, but the runway was not long enough for the largest passenger or freight types at their maximum take-off weights. The runway was originally built with three "lanes" during the Second World War to handle emergencies, and is among the widest in Europe.

Since its closure, the airport has been used as an emergency lorry park in the event of temporary cross-Channel traffic problems, a filming location, including for the 2023 Sam Mendes film Empire of Light and has hosted a variety of aviation events, including the 2023 British Open Paramotor Championships and a general aviation fly-in event (May 2023).

Since 9 July 2019, Manston has been owned by RiverOak Strategic Partners and is the subject of a Development Consent Order to be reopened as an airfreight hub. The DCO was granted by the Secretary of State for Transport in July 2020 and again in August 2022, with the final legal challenge to the DCO dismissed in May 2024. The owners of the airport propose to reopen the airport for air cargo flights in 2028.

At the outset of the First World War, the Isle of Thanet was equipped with a small and precarious landing strip for aircraft at St Mildred's Bay, Westgate-on-Sea, on top of the chalk cliffs, at the foot of which was a promenade which had been used for seaplane operations. The landing grounds atop the cliff soon became the scene of several accidents, with one plane failing to stop before the end of the cliffs and tumbling into the sea, which, fortunately for the pilot, had been on its inward tide.^{[citation needed]}

In the winter of 1915–1916, early aircraft began to use the open farmlands between Minster and Manston as a site for emergency landings. The Admiralty Aerodrome at Manston was opened in response. A training school, originally set up to instruct pilots in the use of the new Handley Page Type O bombers, was soon established. By the close of 1916, there were already two units stationed at Manston: the Operational War Flight Command and the Handley Page Training School.

Its location near the Kent coast gave Manston some advantages over other aerodromes, and regular additions in men and machinery were soon made, particularly from RAF Detling, in early days. By 1917 the Royal Flying Corps was well established and taking an active part in the defence of Britain.