Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Government of the Republic of Zambia | ||||||||||
| Serves | Ndola and Kitwe | ||||||||||
| Location | Ndola, Zambia | ||||||||||
| Opened | 7 October 2021 | ||||||||||
| Time zone | (UTC+2) | ||||||||||
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  Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport | |||||||||||
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Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (IATA: NLA, ICAO: FLSK) is an international airport located in Ndola, Copperbelt Province, Zambia. It was officially known as Ndola Airport before being renamed in 2011 in honour of Simon Kapwepwe, the nation's former vice president.[1] It is located adjacent to the Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site Memorial about fifteen kilometres (9.3 mi) west of the city centre.[2][3][4] It is accessed by using the Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial Access Road off the T3 road (Ndola-Kitwe Dual Carriageway).
The original Ndola Airport in Itawa (opened in the 1950s[5]) was built to serve the city of Ndola, the administrative capital of the Copperbelt province. However, as the relocated Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport opened in 2021, it now serves the cities of Kitwe and Ndola in the Copperbelt, Zambia's 2nd and 3rd most populous cities. It additionally handles domestic, regional and international flights for both passengers and cargo.
In late 2021, the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport moved its operations to its current location adjacent to the Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial from its previous location in Ndola's Itawa suburb. This new airport was engineered by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC International) at a cost of $397 million.[6] It was expected to be completed in Mid-2020[6] but was delayed by setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why it opened the following year.[7]
- ^ "Zambia : Sata renames three Airports". 27 September 2011. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
- ^ "Copperbelt International Airport". Google Maps. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
- ^ "Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial". OpenStreetMap. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
- ^ "Zambia: Airlines to shift operations to new airport in Ndola Oct. 7". Zambia: Airlines to shift operations to new airport in Ndola Oct. 7 | Crisis24. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:16was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b "Zambia : Copperbelt International Airport to be Completed by Mid 2020". LusakaTimes.com. 6 April 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- ^ "Zambia's $522mn Copperbelt Intrn'l airport project slowed by COVID19". The Business Telegraph. Retrieved 5 October 2020.