Seems that you need classmethod:
class World(object):
allAirports = []
@classmethod
def initialize(cls):
if not cls.allAirports:
f = open(os.path.expanduser("~/Desktop/1000airports.csv"))
file_reader = csv.reader(f)
for col in file_reader:
cls.allAirports.append(Airport(col[0],col[2],col[3]))
return cls.allAirports