K50 Airstrip is an

airstrip An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

in the Lower Shabelle region of

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

. It serves the capital city,

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

, and was at times its main airport.

Overview

The name refers to its location on the country's main NE/SW road, about 50 kilometres south-west of

. In the late 2000s, K50 served as Mogadishu's main airport while

Aden Adde International Airport Aden Adde International Airport ( so, Garoonka Caalamiga Ee Aadan Cadde, ar, مطار آدم عدي الدولي) , formerly known as Mogadishu International Airport, is an international airport serving Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. I ...

was briefly shut down due to the ongoing

War in Somalia War in Somalia can refer to: *Somali Civil War (1991–present) :*War in Somalia (1992–1993) U.N. Unified Task Force :*Somalia War (2006–2009), Ethiopian intervention :*Somali Civil War (2009–present) {{Dab ...

. Daallo Airlines operated routes to and from K50 at one time. The airstrip was mentioned in the book Quiet Warriors: Veteran's Military Service Memories, written by Blake E. Edwards.

Facilities

The airstrip resides at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

designated 04/22 with a compacted

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

surface measuring .

Airlines and destinations

The following

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

s offer scheduled passenger service:

References

External links

Aeronautical chart
at SkyVector
Airports in Somalia Lower Shabelle Mogadishu {{Somalia-airport-stub