Hosea Kutako International Airport

Hosea Kutako International Airport
IATA: WDH – ICAO: FYWH
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Namibian Civil Government
Location Windhoek, Namibia
Hub for Air Namibia
Elevation AMSL 5,640 ft / 1,719 m
Coordinates 22°29′12″S 017°27′45″E / 22.48667°S 17.46250°E / -22.48667; 17.46250Coordinates: 22°29′12″S 017°27′45″E / 22.48667°S 17.46250°E / -22.48667; 17.46250
Map
WDH

Location within Namibia

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
08/26 4,532 14,869 Asphalt
16/34 1,524 5,000 Asphalt
Statistics (2009)
Passengers 681,317

Hosea Kutako International Airport (IATA: WDH, ICAO: FYWH) is the main international airport serving the Namibian capital city of Windhoek. Located well east of the city, 45 km (28 mi), it is Namibia's largest airport with international connections. The name of the airport comes from Namibian hero Hosea Kutako.

History

The airport was opened in 1965 during South African administration, and was then named J.G. Strijdom Airport, after the Nationalist Prime Minister of South Africa.[1] It was renamed Hosea Kutako International Airport following independence in 1990.[2]

Several international airlines tried in the past to have Windhoek International Airport as a destination but few of them have managed to establish service in Windhoek until recently.[3][4][5] The absence of direct international flights to Windhoek means that many people have to fly via Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport, resulting in additional transit visa costs, visa processing time taken by respective embassies and longer travel time.[6] There are around 18 [7][8][9][10] direct flights daily between Hosea Kutako International Airport and OR Tambo International Airport. New direct international flights to Hosea Kutako International Airport will make Windhoek a more desirable travel destination.

The airport handled 672,582 passengers in 2007. In 2009, it handled around 680,000 passengers, just over 4% down on the previous year when over 710,000 passengers were processed.[11]

Although Hosea Kutako International Airport is the main airport for international flights to and from Namibia, few domestic flights originate at Hosea Kutako Airport as those are predominantly handled at the smaller Windhoek Eros Airport which is located in the city.

Facilities

The airport underwent a makeover in 2009 in an effort to modernize the facilities. It has one terminal with one departure and one arrival hall. The main runway 08/26 is 4,532 m (14,869 ft) long, currently one of the 30 longest in the world.

Though there are few services available near the field, the Millennium Business Park is being constructed just outside the airport, which will include a filling station, truck stop and bureau de change.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Air Namibia Cape Town, Frankfurt,[12] Gaborone, Harare, Johannesburg-OR Tambo, Luanda, Lüderitz, Lusaka, Maun, Oranjemund, Victoria Falls, Walvis Bay
Airlink Cape Town
British Airways
operated by Comair 		Johannesburg-OR Tambo
Condor Frankfurt[13]
Seasonal: Munich[14]
Fly Blue Crane Cape Town (starts May 13, 2016)
South African Airways Johannesburg-OR Tambo
TAAG Angola Airlines Luanda
Qatar Airways Doha (begins 28 September 2016)[15][16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Standard encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Volume 10, NASOU, 1974, page 202
  2. ↑ Posters in Action: Visuality in the Making of an African Nation, Giorgio Miescher, Lorena Rizzo, Jeremy Silvester Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2009, page 133
  3. ↑ "Emirates knocks on Namibia’s doors". Diplomacy Namibia. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "Ethiopian Airlines flies to Windhoek". The Observer. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Direct Windhoek-Nairobi flights on cards". The Namibian. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "UAE investors want direct flights to Namibia". The Namibian. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  7. ↑ "Real Time Flight Status at windhoek (WDH Airport)". FlightStats.com. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  8. ↑ "Air Namibia Time Table" (PDF). Air Namibia. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  9. ↑ "Emirates Introduces Airbus to Southern Africa". All Africa News. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  10. ↑ "Ethiopian Airlines and SAA expands codeshare partnership for Windheok". An Africa Business Community – Africa Travel – Tourism. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  11. ↑ "Namibia may see traffic boost from remake of cult TV series 'The Prisoner'; non-stop flights to Germany, but no longer UK". anna.aero Airline News & Analysis. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  12. ↑ Air Namibia, Frankfurt Airport
  13. ↑ Windhoek in Namibia now a year-round Condor destination, Condor, 18 June 2014
  14. ↑ Condor kündigt neue Langstreckenziele ab München an, airliners.de, 23 June 2015
  15. ↑ "QATAR Airways Plans New Routes from August 2016". airlineroute. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  16. ↑ Qatar confirms Doha-Auckland launch, Business Traveller, 9 March 2016

External links

Media related to Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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