Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport (Portuguese: Aeroporto Internacional 4 de Fevereiro, Swahili: Uwanja wa Ndege wa Kimataifa wa Quatro de Fevereiro), (IATA: LAD, ICAO: FNLU) 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 2018, about 5.6 million passengers were handled.^[1]

Quick Facts Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport Aeroporto Internacional 4 de Fevereiro, Summary ...

Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport Aeroporto Internacional 4 de Fevereiro
IATA: LAD ICAO: FNLU
Summary
Airport type	Military / Public
Operator	ENANA EP
Location	Luanda, Angola
Hub for	Fly Angola TAAG Angola Airlines
Elevation AMSL	243 ft / 74 m
Coordinates	08°51′30″S 13°13′52″E
Website	www.aeroporto-luanda.com
Map
LAD Location of Airport in Angola Show map of Angola LAD LAD (Africa) Show map of Africa
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05/23 3,716 12,190 Asphalt 07/25 2,600 8,530 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Passengers 5,600,000 Passenger change 18–19 9.4% Aircraft movements 65,843 Movements change 18–19 1.8%

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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 (President Craveiro Lopes Airport).

In August, September, and October 1975 the airport hosted tens of thousands of mostly white Portuguese Angolans fleeing to Lisbon (during Operation Air Bridge) who camped-out while awaiting evacuation flights during the weeks before Angola's Independence.^[2][3]

Following Angola's independence from Portugal (in November 1975), the airport was renamed Aeroporto Quatro de Fevereiro Internacional (Fourth of February International Airport) to commemorate the events leading to the independence of the state.

The airport is at an elevation of 243 feet (74 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 05/23 is 3,716 by 45 metres (12,192 ft × 148 ft) and 07/25 is 2,600 by 60 metres (8,530 ft × 197 ft).^[4] Starting no earlier than 2024,^[5] the airport will be replaced by the new Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto International Airport. Construction work has already started, but its opening was postponed due to financial difficulties on the part of the Angolan government.^[6]

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Luanda Quatro de Fevereiro Airport:^[7]

• On 26 March 1979, a cargo-configured Interflug Ilyushin Il-18 DM-STL overshot the runway following an engine failure during the take-off run. The aircraft broke up and erupted into flames, killing the ten people on board.^[17][18]
• On 12 February 2000, a Transafrik International cargo Boeing 727 crashed upon landing on runway 23. Due to high winds gusting to between 50 and 80 knots, the aircraft had executed a missed approach, and upon the landing flare of the second attempt, witnesses saw the right wing touch the ground.^{[citation needed]}
• On 25 May 2003, a Boeing 727-223 with the registration number N844AA, which had been parked at the airport for over a year, was stolen in mysterious circumstances. As of January 2024, the aircraft has not been located.^[19]
• On 27 June 2009, a British Airways Boeing 777-200ER G-RAES was damaged, while it was parked, by a collision with a Hainan Airlines Airbus A340-600 B-6510.^[20][21]
• On 31 January 2010, Guicango Yakovlev Yak-40 D2-FES suffered the collapse of all landing gears on landing after a flight from Cabinda.^[22]