# Quatro de Fevereiro Airport

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.
Starting 2024, the airport will be replaced by the new Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto International Airport.

## 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 (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.
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.

## Facilities

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).

## Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Luanda Quatro de Fevereiro Airport:
| Airlines | Destinations |
| Air France | Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Pointe-Noire |
| ASKY Airlines | Lomé, Pointe-Noire |
| Brussels Airlines | Brussels, Kinshasa–N'djili (both end 25 March 2025) |
| Emirates | Dubai–International |
| Ethiopian Airlines | Addis Ababa |
| Fly Angola | Benguela, Catumbela, Dundo, Saurimo, Windhoek–Hosea Kutako |
| Kenya Airways | Brazzaville, Nairobi–Jomo Kenyatta |
| Lufthansa | Frankfurt |
| Qatar Airways | Doha |
| Royal Air Maroc | Casablanca |
| TAAG Angola Airlines | Abidjan, Brazzaville, Cape Town, Catumbela, Harare, Huambo, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo, Kinshasa–N'djili, Kuito, Lagos, Lisbon, Lubango, Lusaka, Maputo, Menongue, Moçâmedes, Ondjiva, Pointe-Noire, Sal, São Paulo–Guarulhos, São Tomé, Uíge, Windhoek–Hosea Kutako Seasonal: Havana |
| TAP Air Portugal | Lisbon, Porto |
| Turkish Airlines | Istanbul, Libreville |

## Statistics

Traffic by calendar year. Official ACI Statistics :
| | Passengers | Change from previous year | Aircraft operations | Change from previous year | Cargo (metric tons) | Change from previous year |
| 2005 | 882,749 | 18.15% | 28,382 | 17.31% | 19,975 | 23.35% |
| 2006 | 1,128,442 | 27.83% | 22,213 | 21.74% | 33,876 | 69.59% |
| 2007 | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
| 2008 | 2,222,638 | N.A. | 68,000 | N.A. | 42,614 | N.A. |
| 2009 | 2,430,794 | 9.37% | 65,843 | 3.17% | 53,339 | 25.17% |
| Source: Airports Council International. World Airport Traffic Statistics (Years 2005-2009) |||||||

## Accidents and incidents

* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* On 31 January 2010, Guicango Yakovlev Yak-40 D2-FES suffered the collapse of all landing gears on landing after a flight from Cabinda.