Quatro de Fevereiro Airport


Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport, is the main international airport of Angola. It is located in the southern part of the capital Luanda, situated in the Luanda Province. Quatro de Fevereiro means 4 February, which is an important national holiday in Angola, marking the start of the armed struggle against the Portuguese colonial regime on 4 February 1961. In 2009, about 1.8 million passengers were counted.

History

The construction of the airport began in 1951, in order to serve the capital of the former-Portuguese Overseas Province of Angola. It was inaugurated in 1954, by the Portuguese President Craveiro Lopes, which in his honor, the airport was named Aeroporto Presidente Craveiro Lopes.
In August, September, and October 1975 the airport hosted tens of thousands of mostly white Portuguese Angolans fleeing to Lisbon who camped-out while awaiting evacuation flights during the weeks before Angola's Independence.
Following Angola's independence from Portugal, the airport was renamed Aeroporto Quatro de Fevereiro Internacional to commemorate the events leading to the independence of the state.
On March 19, 2020 Angola suspended all international flights to and from the capitol, Luanda, due to the COVID-19-pandemic.

Facilities

The airport resides at an elevation of above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 05/23 is and 07/25 is. Starting no earlier than 2022, the airport will be replaced by the new Angola International Airport. Construction work has already started, but its opening was postponed due to financial difficulties on the part of the Angolan government.

Airlines and destinations

;Notes:
Flights from Amsterdam to Luanda continue on to Windhoek. However, KLM does not carry local traffic rights between Luanda and Windhoek.

Statistics

Accidents and incidents